§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the sum of £200 was established as the level above which the cost of answering a parliamentary question is considered disproportionate; and if he will place a note in the Library detailing how this sum was arrived at, and the cost assumptions currently used when calculating the cost of parliamentary questions.
§ Mr. BrookeThe disproportionate cost threshold was set at £200 in 1982, being increased to £250 in March 1988 to maintain the value of the cost threshold in real terms.
The disproportionate cost procedure is designed to identify and draw to ministerial attention the most expensive 1 to 2 per cent, of parliamentary questions. This does not alter the discretion of individual Ministers to decide that a particular question should be answered partially or in full, regardless of cost.
The cost of answering a parliamentary question is based on staff time, using average rates of pay and associated costs (such as national insurance and superannuation for the Civil Service grades concerned) and on substantive non-staff costs such as computer usage.