§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many named day written questions were tabled to the Department between 15 October 2002 and 24 February 2003; how many that received a holding answer were given a substantive answer(a) within three days, (b) within seven days, (c) within 14 days, (d) within 28 days and (e) over 28 days later; and what procedures the Department has in place to monitor performance on answering (i) parliamentary questions and (ii) ministerial letters. [99435]
§ Dr. Moonie444 named day written questions were tabled to the Ministry of Defence between 15 October 2002 and 24 February 2003. Of this number, 153 questions received a holding reply and one remains 279W outstanding. The information could be broken down into the timescales requested only at disproportionate cost.
Parliamentary questions tabled to the Ministry of Defence are recorded on a database and progress of all parliamentary questions is monitored closely.
The Cabinet Office, on an annual basis, publishes a report to Parliament on performance of departments in replying to ministerial correspondence. The Report for 2001 was published on Friday 24 May 2002, Official Report, column 674W. The Report for 2002 will be published in due course.