§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many(a) parliamentary questions and (b) letters to him from hon. Members remain unanswered; broken down by those which are (i) one 941W month old, (ii) two months old, (iii) three months old, (iv) four months old and (v) over six months old. [73918]
§ Mr. Lammy[holding answer 15 October 20021: The table shows the number of outstanding parliamentary questions in the Department on 16 October 2002, which are over one month old.
Month Tabled Number of Parliamentary Questions Outstanding May 1 July 13 The table shows the number of letters in the Department which had not received an answer at 15 October 2002.
With a Received Date Between Number 1 & 2 months 601 2 & 3 months 385 3 & 4 months 201 4 & 6 months 367 greater than 6 months 474
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health in what capacity his special advisers are involved in drafting answers to parliamentary questions tabled by hon. Members. [73921]
§ Mr. Lammy[holding answer 15 October 2002]: Officials with responsibility for the policy take the lead in drafting answers to parliamentary questions, which are then cleared by Ministers before a final reply is sent. There is no formal role for special advisers in this process, but they may from time to time be consulted by Ministers and/or officials about draft replies.