Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's internal guidance for officials on the drafting of answers to parliamentary questions; and if he will set out his Department's step by step sign off procedure before Ministerial approval is given to answers.
This government values the ongoing work of MPs and Peers whose scrutiny, whether through written Parliamentary Questions or other methods, is an invaluable part of our democratic process.
The Ministry of Justice’s internal guidance for answering parliamentary questions was updated and published on the Department’s intranet in April 2020. I will arrange for a copy of the attached guidance to be placed in the Libraries of the House.
In addition, the Cabinet Office has produced guidance for civil servants on drafting answers to parliamentary questions. This may be found on the gov.uk website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/drafting-answers-to-parliamentary-questions-guidance
Parliamentary questions are cleared by Senior Civil Servants in the relevant policy area, then Special Advisers, before receiving final sign off from Ministers.