Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of written questions sent to each Government department received a response citing disproportionate cost as grounds upon which not to provide a substantive answer in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021and (d) January-May 2022.
Answered by Michael Ellis
Details of responses to written parliamentary questions from other government departments are not recorded centrally by the Cabinet Office. All questions that received responses that cited disproportionate costs or information not being available in the format requested can be found publicly on the parliament.uk website and can be searched for within the years requested.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if his Department will publish the average time it took each Department to respond to correspondence from Members of the House of (a) Commons and (b) Lords in (i) 2021 and (ii) during the period from January to May 2022.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from MPs and Peers.
The Cabinet Office does not collect data from government departments on the average time taken to respond to correspondence from Members of the House of Commons and Lords.
The Cabinet Office will be publishing data on volumes and timeliness of responses to correspondence from Members of the House of Commons and Lords for 2021 in the near future. This publication will include data for all government departments.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2022 to Question 125060 on Infected Blood Compensation Framework Study, when the Government plans to publish the infected blood compensation framework report by Sir Robert Francis QC.
Answered by Michael Ellis
I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave on 24 February to PQ 125060.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Sir Robert Francis QC's report on a contaminated blood scandal compensation framework will be made available to the public on 14 March 2022.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The study will report to the Paymaster General no later than 14 March 2022. The Government will give full consideration to Sir Robert's study - which is separate from the independent public inquiry. The Government's response and Sir Robert's study will be published.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he will publish data on the timeliness of all departmental responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers in 2021.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from MPs, Peers and members of the public.
In July 2021, the Cabinet Office published data on the timeliness of responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers for 2018, 2019 and 2020 on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers. This data measures performance by the percentage of correspondence from MPs and Peers responded to within the target response time set by each Department - rather than the average length of time taken to respond to correspondence from MPs and Peers. As per the Guide to Handling Correspondence, updated by the Cabinet Office in July 2021, the target response time set by Departments for correspondence must not exceed 20 working days.
The Cabinet Office is now in a position to publish correspondence data in a more timely manner; the data for 2021 will be published in the near future.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average response time was for his Department to respond to an enquiry from an MP once an enquiry had been received by the MP (a) hotline and (b) account management team in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from MPs, either directly or on behalf of their constituents. Neither the Cabinet Office nor the Prime Minister’s Office has an MP hotline or MP management account team.
Where a Hon. Member writes to the Prime Minister about a matter that is directly the responsibility of another Department, it has been the long-standing practice of successive administrations for that matter to be passed to that Department for a substantive reply, on his behalf. This means that the data on such response times will be included in that Department’s broader figures.
Data on the timeliness of responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers is published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average response time was for the Prime Minister's Office to respond to an enquiry from an MP once an enquiry had been received by the MP (a) hotline and (b) account management team in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from MPs, either directly or on behalf of their constituents. Neither the Cabinet Office nor the Prime Minister’s Office has an MP hotline or MP management account team.
Where a Hon. Member writes to the Prime Minister about a matter that is directly the responsibility of another Department, it has been the long-standing practice of successive administrations for that matter to be passed to that Department for a substantive reply, on his behalf. This means that the data on such response times will be included in that Department’s broader figures.
Data on the timeliness of responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers is published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Government plans to publish UK export figures for February 2021.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 1 April 2021 to Question 169810, on 10 Downing Street: Iron and Steel, what records his Department holds on the use of UK-produced steel in the construction of the briefing room facilities in 9 Downing Street.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This information is not centrally held by the Cabinet Office.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what records his Department holds on the use of UK-produced steel in the construction of the briefing room in 10 Downing Street.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
A briefing room has not been constructed in 10 Downing Street, therefore we do not hold the information requested. The Government is establishing facilities within 9 Downing Street which will be used for daily broadcasting by a number of news organisations, therefore I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to PQ 169917 on 22 March 2021.