HC Deb 27 June 2002 vol 387 cc1024-5W
Hugh Bayley

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will estimate the cost of answering the parliamentary questions tabled by the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) on 19 June concerning correspondence received by his Department; and if he will make a statement on ways in which hon. Members may make inquiries of his Department and the cost of each method. [64279]

Mr. Straw

Although the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) tabled over 120 parliamentary questions on correspondence we had received from various NGOs concerning the Convention on the Future of Europe, my right hon. Friend the Member for Neath (Peter Hain) answered all his questions with a single answer.

In a written answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Stevenage (Barbara Follett) on 11 April 2002, Official Report,column 582W, the then Financial Secretary my right hon. Friend the Member for Brent, South (Mr. Paul Boateng) announced that the average estimated cost of answering a written parliamentary question was £129. No equivalent exercise is done for the cost of responding to MPs' letters.