Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of his Department's compliance with the Protocol between the Lord Chancellor (on behalf of the Government) and the Law Commission, HC 499, published on 29 March 2010, in the context of the average time taken by the Government to respond to Law Commission reports in the last five years.

The Protocol sets out the working agreement between Government and the Law Commission in respect of the Government responding to full and final published reports. An interim and final response should be provided as set out in the Protocol, but additional response time can be agreed with the Commission, if necessary.

However, the type of work commissioned by government can vary in length and will not always lead to a full report being produced, so it is not possible for the Ministry of Justice to state the average time it has taken for the Government to respond to each Law Commission report in the last five years.