§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 5 March 2002 to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble),Official Report, column 275W, on parliamentary questions, what the average time taken is (a) to draft an answer for submission to a Minister for approval, (b) for the Minister to approve and (c) from approval to providing the answer to the hon. Member, for parliamentary questions tabled since June 2001. [41775]
§ Mr. MilburnI regret that this information cannot be provided because the record management database, from which it would be drawn, is currently not reliable for the reasons set out in the answer to which the hon. Member refers.
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§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 5 March 2002 to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble),Official Report, column 275W, on parliamentary questions, what evidence he has of the systematic falsification in recording the handling of parliamentary questions in his Department. [41774]
§ Mr. MilburnThere is evidence that the record management database used in the Parliamentary Section has been falsified—apparently deliberately—to show answers as having been dealt with when they had not.
This is the subject of the investigation now under way. I will report to the House on the outcome of the investigation as soon as possible.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 5 March 2002 to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble),Official Report, column 275W, on parliamentary questions, what systems his Department uses to monitor the number of unanswered parliamentary questions. [41777]
§ Mr. MilburnThe record management database in the Department's Parliamentary section provides this information and has been used to monitor progress on outstanding questions.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 5 March 2002 to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble),Official Report, column 192W, ref. 41128, on parliamentary questions, what form his investigation into the systematic falsification of records in his Department will take; when he expects to complete the investigation; how much the investigation will cost; and if he will place a copy of the report in the Library when the investigation has been completed. [41779]
§ Mr. MilburnThe investigation is being carried out under the personal supervision of the Department's Director of Corporate Affairs; and it will report to the Permanent Secretary. The aim of the investigation is to establish the facts about what appears to be the systematic falsification of the record management system in the parliamentary section and to ensure that the necessary remedial action is taken. I have undertaken to report to Parliament on the outcome of the investigation; and I will do this as quickly and as fully as possible, subject to the need to avoid prejudicing any disciplinary proceedings. It is too early to give an estimate of the cost of the investigation.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 5 March 2002 to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble),Official Report, column 192W, ref. 41128 on parliamentary questions, if he will break down by political party, the number of questions that were systematically recorded as being answered but were not. [41778]
§ Mr. MilburnA total of 214 parliamentary questions were found to be falsely recorded on the Department's record management database as having been answered when they had not. These were broken down by political party as follows.
843W
Number Conservative 86 Labour 71 Liberal Democrat 45 Scottish Nationalist 10 Plaid Cymru 2
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble), of 5 March 2002,Official Report, column 192W, ref. 41128, on parliamentary questions, when he first was informed of the evidence suggesting systematic falsification in recording the handling of parliamentary questions. [41696]
§ Mr. MilburnI was first informed of this on 28 February, following which a full audit of outstanding questions was carried out. This provided the basis for the answer to which the hon. Member refers.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 5 March 2002 to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble),Official Report, column 192W, ref. 41128, on parliamentary questions, how many extra civil servants he has drafted into the Department's parliamentary section to reduce the backlog of unanswered parliamentary questions; and what he estimates the additional costs to his Department will be. [41776]
§ Mr. MilburnTo meet the commitment to aim to deal with all outstanding questions due for reply before 14 February by 12 March, three extra staff have been redeployed to the Parliamentary Section. The section is also receiving additional support from other areas of the Private Office. This involves re-prioritising work, rather than incurring additional overall costs, except for the additional cost of paying for a temporary replacement for the suspended member of staff which it is too early yet to estimate.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 5 March 2000 to the hon. Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble),Official Report, column 275W, ref 41128, on parliamentary questions, if he will list the roles and responsibilities of the civil servant who has been suspended in his Department. [41781]
§ Mr. MilburnThe individual concerned works in the Parliamentary Section of the Department. It would be inappropriate to give further details which might identify the individual, as departmental disciplinary procedures are being followed.
§ Mr. HealdTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to answer questions numbers(a) 9513,(b) 17418,(c) 16461,(d) 13966,(e) 13780, (f) 12020, (g) 10511, (h) 13967, (i) 13968, (j) 13853, (k) 13856 and (l) 14110. [41971]
§ Mr. MilburnThe aim is to reply to all these questions by 12 March.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how Ministers in his Department ensure that answers to parliamentary questions are given as speedily as possible. [42273]
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§ Mr. MilburnMinisters and officials throughout the Department are committed to providing speedy answers to questions and respecting the tight timetables this involves.
There are departmental procedures which provide for advice to be submitted to Ministers within a set timetable and for regular monitoring of the process of answering questions at all stages.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what procedures are in place in his Department to pursue answers to parliamentary questions which have not been given a substantive reply by a named day. [42203]
§ Mr. MilburnThis information is derived from the record management database in the Parliamentary Section and follow-up action is pursued by staff in the section.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many officials in his Department are involved in answering parliamentary questions; and how subject responsibilities are allocated among those staff. [42201]
§ Mr. MilburnQuestions are assigned to the official dealing with the subject area raised. As this can involve officials across the whole Department, it is not possible to give a reliable estimate either of the potential number involved or the number involved at any one time.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how Ministers in his Department check the appropriateness of their answers to parliamentary questions; [42272]
(2) what are the procedures followed by Ministers for signing off answers to parliamentary questions. [42274]
§ Mr. MilburnThe procedure is for the answers to all parliamentary questions to be approved by a Minister. If Ministers are not satisfied with the advice on the reply, they will seek further advice.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when the official in his Department suspended for alleged falsification of recording answers to parliamentary questions was suspended; if he will name him; and what grade his post is. [42275]
§ Mr. MilburnThe official was suspended on 28 February. It would not be appropriate to name the official, who works in the Department's Parliamentary Section, or to provide further details which could identify the person concerned, as departmental disciplinary procedures are being followed.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the procedures within his Department for(a) registering parliamentary questions when received in the parliamentary unit,(b) monitoring the progress made in answering them and (c) registering that they have been answered. [42207]
§ Mr. MilburnAction on the different stages in the process of handling parliamentary questions is recorded on a database in the parliamentary section, including when they are received and when they have been answered. The database is used to monitor the progress of outstanding questions.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how his Department monitors the time it takes to answer parliamentary questions. [42200]
845W
§ Mr. MilburnThe record management system in the Department's parliamentary section provides this information and has been used to support monitoring of the handling of parliamentary questions.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many parliamentary questions have been(a) answered and (b) unanswered in each month the House has been sitting since July 2001. [41780]
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many parliamentary questions have been answered by his Department since 7 June 2001 by each of the Ministers responsible; and how many are awaiting answer. [42202]
§ Mr. MilburnI regret that the information is not readily available in the form requested because the record management database from which it would be drawn is currently not reliable, for the reasons set out in the reply that I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002,Official Report, column 192W.