Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of responding to written questions from the Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

This Government welcomes scrutiny from all members of Parliament. In 2012 it was estimated that the average cost of answering a written question was £164. The Hon Member for Thirsk and Malton has tabled 2205 written questions in this Parliament, so the cost of answering these is likely to have exceeded £350,000.