Parliamentary Questions (Hansard, 14 November 1989)

§ Mr. Fisher
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many(a) oral and (b) written questions were asked of his Department in 1988–89.

§ Mr. Rifkind
(a) 608 and (b) 2,646.

§ Mr. Fisher
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how many written parliamentary questions he refused to answer in the parliamentary Session 1988–89.
(2) how many written Parliamentary questions to him in Session 1988–89 received answers that the information (a) was not available, (b) was not separately recorded, (c) was not centrally recorded, (d) was not recorded in Government statistics or (e) could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

§ Mr. Rifkind
A total of 322, of which 297 were in the categories listed by the hon. Member; 92 where the information(a) was not available, 29 (b) not separately recorded, 144 (c) not centrally recorded, 13 (d) not recorded in Government statistics, and 19 (e) could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

§ Mr. Fisher
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the cost to his Department of answering parliamentary(a) oral and (b) written questions in the parliamentary Session 1988–89.

§ Mr. Rifkind
Such costs cannot be separated from the total administrative costs of my Department.