§ Norman BakerTo ask the Leader of the House how many Parliamentary Questions have been tabled to him since 1 January 2003, broken down by(a) Ordinary Written and (b) Named Day; what percentage in respect of (a) were answered within 10 working days; and what percentage in respect of (b) were answered by the specified date. [157743]
§ Mr. HainMinisters have an obligation to Parliament to ensure that Members receive a substantive response to their Named Day question on the named day and to endeavour to answer an Ordinary Written question within a working week of it being tabled. Ministers and their Departments should make every effort to ensure that the live load of questions still awaiting a substantive reply should be kept to a minimum at all times.
From 1 January 2003 to Friday 27 February 2004:
102 Ordinary Written Questions were tabled, of which 100 per cent. were answered within 10 working days.49 Named Day Questions were tabled, of which 96 per cent. were answered by the specified date.