§ John ThursoTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many(a) ordinary written and (b) named day questions his Department received in (i) the 2002–03 and (ii) this parliamentary session up to the most recent date for which figures are available, broken down by month; [170774]
(2) what proportion of (a) ordinary written questions to his Department were answered within five sitting days of tabling and (b) Questions for a named day received a substantive answer on that day on (i) 2002–03 and (ii) this parliamentary session up to the most recent date for which figures are available, broken down by month.[170775]
209W
§ Mr. CaplinInformation on the number of named day and ordinary written questions tabled to Defence Ministers in the 2002–03 parliamentary session and the current session up to and including 30 April is set out in the following table:
Session 2002–03 Number of named day questions
Number of ordinary written questions
13–30 November 2002 125 260 December 2002 122 232 January 2003 68 476 February 2003 69 316 March 2003 77 298 April 2003 65 295 May 2003 83 427 June 2003 86 376 July 2003 45 372 August 2003 — — September 2003 49 217 October 2003 29 297 Up to 20 November 2003 51 186
Current Session Number of named day questions
Number of ordinary written questions
26–30 November 2003 12 71 December 2003 46 265 January 2004 64 334 February 2004 83 282 March 2004 72 314 April 2004 46 269 The proportion of named day questions answered on the day specified, or ordinary written questions answered within five sitting days is not readily available on the current MOD PQ database and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Defence Ministers aim to answer named day questions on the day named and ordinary written questions within five days. I also refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 31 March 2004, Official Report, column 907W, to the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) by my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House (Mr. Hain).