§ Mrs. HumbleTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the time taken to reply to written questions tabled for answer by his Department. [41128]
§ Mr. MilburnConcerted action has been taken in the Department to reduce the number of outstanding parliamentary questions. The Department is now receiving questions at the rate of around 45 a day, almost double the rate of the last session. Last week the Department responded to over 500 questions. There are currently 411 outstanding questions due for reply before 14 February 2002. I aim to have provided right hon. and hon. Members with answers to those outstanding questions by 12 March 2002.
Several Members have raised concerns about unanswered questions and the length of time it has taken for questions to be answered. Last week in the course of dealing with these inquiries evidence came to light of what appears to be systematic falsification in recording the handling of parliamentary questions in the Department's parliamentary section. This included recording questions as having been answered when no such reply had been given to the Member or to the Official Report. Some of these questions date back to the beginning of this session.
The falsification that took place meant that both officials and Ministers were wrongly led to believe that Members had received replies to their questions when they had not. A full investigation is now under way to ensure that all the facts are known and that the necessary remedial action is taken. An official from the Department's parliamentary section has been suspended and is now the subject of a disciplinary investigation. The decision to suspend the official was taken by the line manager of the individual concerned in accordance with standard departmental disciplinary procedures.
Ministers and officials within the Department are fully committed to supporting the system of accountability to Parliament which underpins our democracy. We aim to provide timely and accurate responses to parliamentary questions. There has been a serious failure in honouring that commitment which I deeply regret. All possible steps will now be taken to deal with the backlog of outstanding parliamentary questions. As soon as I am able I will also report to Parliament on the outcome of the investigation that is now under way.