Question

To ask the Leader of the House, with regard to the 19 questions for written answer that remained unanswered after 10 working days on 12 February, how many of the answering bodies have not sent an apology to the questioner for the delay in responding.

Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal

As Leader of the House, I take my duty to represent the House to His Majesty’s Government with the utmost seriousness. Central to this is ensuring that Peers have their questions answered in a timely fashion by all departments. Over the recent months, I have reminded all Front Bench Ministers of their duty to respond to Written Questions within the 10 day target.

In addition to this, my Office routinely contacts departments who have breached this target to ascertain the reasons why their deadlines have been missed. As an indication of how seriously I have taken this issue, I have also written to the Permanent Secretaries of departments and met individually with Front Bench Ministers who repeatedly miss the target.

I believe an apology is appropriate in such circumstances, but that it is a matter for each individual department to determine.

Question to the Leader of the House:

To ask the Leader of the House, what proportion of named day questions were answered on or before the relevant named day by (a) all Government Departments and (b) the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in (i) the 2022-23 Parliamentary Session and (ii) the current Parliamentary session.

Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons

Data on response times to all written parliamentary questions is held by the House, rather than the Government. The ​Procedure ​Committee reports on departmental performance following the end of each Parliamentary Session, the most recent of which can be found on parliament.uk (https://committees.parliament.uk/work/1245/written-parliamentary-questions/publications), and the Government looks forward to receiving the Committee’s report on data from the 2022-23 Session. The Hon. Member may wish to approach the House regarding data for the current Parliamentary session.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times Government departments answered Named Day written parliamentary questions stating that it would not be possible to answer a question within the usual time period in each of the last five years.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Written parliamentary questions allow MPs and Peers to ask Ministers for information on the work, policy and activities of Government departments. Parliament has a right to hold Ministers to account and it is a recognised right of Parliament that Members receive full and timely responses. Where it is not possible to provide a Named Day answer in full on the specified date, a holding response should be provided to the MP to explain this.

It is the responsibility of individual departments to provide timely answers to Parliamentary Questions from Members. The requested information is not centrally held by the Cabinet Office, and complying with this request would incur a disproportionate cost to the Department.

Question to the Leader of the House:

To ask the Leader of the House, what steps she is taking to help ensure Departments provide substantive and timely answers to written parliamentary questions.

Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons

Parliament has a right to hold Ministers to account and, as Leader of the House, I expect Government Ministers to respond quickly and effectively to written parliamentary questions. I will continue to drive that message and I encourage members who get an unsatisfactory response to write to me and I will take this up for any Member who does not get a proper response.

The ​Procedure ​Committee has a strong track record of calling Ministers in to look at​ departmental​ performance where there are issues​ and their regular reporting of performance continues to be an effective tool​. ​I note the Procedure Committee's report from earlier in this session on written parliamentary questions during the 2021-22 session​ and ​I was pleased to read that the number of answers provided on time has improved from the 2019-21 session. ​I hope we will see this improvement continue in the current session. ​However, there remains room for improvement and I hope departments and Ministers will consider how best to ensure resources are adequately deployed to improve performance.

I recognise that my office and I have a role to play in making representations to Government on behalf of the House of Commons, and have taken a number actions in recent months:

• Over the 2022 Summer recess my office conducted a series of discussions across Whitehall regarding the importance of timely and quality responses to Members.
• In line with the practice of my predecessors, I have written to all members of Cabinet.
• I participated in a ‘Leading in Parliament’ session with Senior Civil Servants.
• I met with the Home Office Permanent Secretary following a number of concerns raised during Business Questions, and I have been pleased to note an improvement in performance in that department’s performance statistics. Changes include regular briefings on PQ performance to Director Generals; a further training offer to civil servants to improve performance and quality of responses; and investment in software to help manage PQ allocation and clearance processes.
• In November 2022 my office published an updated Guide to Parliamentary Work which is available on Gov.uk and includes guidance for civil servants on answering written parliamentary questions, reflecting concerns raised by the Procedure Committee (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-parliamentary-work).
• My office oversees the Parliamentary Clerks’ Working Group, which brings together all departmental Parliamentary Clerks from across Whitehall to discuss topical issues and share best practice. During its last meeting in December 2022, my office expressed my concerns and reiterated the need for improvements in the timeliness of responses to parliamentary questions to be maintained.
• The Parliamentary Capability Team in the Cabinet Office also provides training on managing parliamentary work to civil servants of all departments and grades, including blended learning courses on Written Parliamentary Questions and tailored workshops for Senior Civil Servants. Since April 2022, 896 civil servants from across government have attended training provided by the Parliamentary Capability Team on managing Written Parliamentary Questions.
• I will be meeting with all departmental Permanent Secretaries in the coming weeks where I will reiterate the importance of substantive and timely answers to written parliamentary questions.