§ Mrs. Ann TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many times in each year since 1979–80 his Department has written to a right hon. or hon. Member correcting an answer to a parliamentary question; [18514]
(2) how many parliamentary questions to his Department that were transferred for answer to the chief executive or other senior official of a non-departmental public body or agency for which he has responsibility received an answer which was not printed in the Official Report in each year since 1979–80 or for each year that the body or agency has been in existence; [18516]
(3) how many parliamentary questions to his Department in each year since 1979–80 requesting a priority written answer or answer on a named day, were answered within three days; how many received a holding reply; and how many of those which received a holding reply then received a substantive answer within a further five, 10, 15, 20 days or longer; [18512]
(4) How many parliamentary questions to his Department were transferred to answer to the chief executive or other senior official of a non-departmental public body or agency for which he has responsibility in each year since 1979–80 or for each year that the body or agency has been in existence; [18515]
(5) how many parliamentary questions requesting an ordinary written answer were received by his Department in each year since 1979–80; and how many such questions received a substantive answer within 10, 15, 20 days or longer; [18511]
(6) how many times in each year since 1979–80 his Department has given a reply to a parliamentary question which has resulted in the information requested being placed in the Library and not printed in the Official Report. [18513]
§ Mr. HagueThe information is a matter of public record but could be extracted in the form requested only at disproportionate cost. The available information for the years1992–93, 1993–94 and 1994–95 is as follows:
1227W
Pursuant letter sent to Member to correct an answer to a parliamentary question Session Number sent 1992–93 19 1993–94 21 1994–95 (up to Tuesday 4 April) 7
Holding replies sent Session Number sent 1992–93 44 1993–94 37 1994–95 (up to Tuesday 4 April) 35
Parliamentary questions answered Session Named day (or priority) Ordinary 1992–93 1,574 1,731 1993–94 933 1,432 1994–95 (up to Tuesday 4 April) 620 710 "I will write" answers to questions placed in the Library rather than in the Official Report—that is, when it is too late for answers to be provided before the summer recess or prorogation:
Session Number 1992–93: 22 1993–94: 17 1994–95: NIL A small proportion of questions have also been placed in the Library in each parliamentary Session because the answer was too long to be printed in the Official Report.
Written questions referred to Next Steps Agencies
Session Number 1992–93: 3591 1993–94: 3331 1994–95: 1501 Note
1 These figures have been provided using the POLIS database. It is not possible to guarantee that this is a truly comprehensive answer.