§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked the Leader of the House:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord President on 11 March (WA 183), what has been the Government's record in meeting the target of answering Written Questions within two weeks in each department, apart from the Scotland Office and the Wales Office, for each of the past live years. [HL2259]
§ Baroness AmosThis information is only available from 23 January 2002.
From 23 January 2002 to 22 January 2004, 9,013 Questions for Written Answer were tabled. Of these, 5,384 (60 per cent) were answered within the two-week deadline. The table below gives a breakdown by department (for completeness, I have included both the Scotland and Wales Office).
I continue to review all outstanding Questions with my ministerial colleagues on a weekly basis and am pleased to say that since 22 January 2004 to date, 1,341 Questions for Written Answer have been tabled, of which 74 per cent have been answered within the two-week deadline—a big improvement on the previous figures.
187WA
23 January 2002 to 22 January 2003 23 January 2003 to 22 January 2004 Departments Number of Questions Tabled % answered within the 14-day deadline Number of Questions Tabled %answered within the 14-day deadline Cabinet Office 141 39.72 134 58.21 Chairman of Committees 25 100 34 91.18 Chief Whips Office (HoL) 7 100 0 0 Department for Constitutional Affairs 145 59.31 220 52.73
23 January 2002 to 22 January 2003 23 January 2003 to 22 January 2004 Departments Number of Questions Tabled % answered within the 14-day deadline Number of Questions Tabled %answered within the 14-day deadline Department for International Development 59 33.90 99 75.76 Department for Transport 301 86.38 243 84.77 Department for Work and Pensions 83 36.14 156 58.97 Department of Health 642 47.82 618 59.48 Department of Trade and Industry 168 47.62 269 51.67 Department for Culture, Media & Sport 141 71.63 169 88.76 Department for Education & Skills 135 65.19 203 70.94 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 441 64.85 331 55.29 Foreign & Commonwealth Office 381 66.40 541 47.13 Her Majesty's Treasury 225 85.33 234 84.19 Home Office 354 55.08 483 51.97 Law Officers' Department 19 63.16 40 55 Leader of House of Lords and Lord President of the Council 20 70 25 84 Ministry of Defence 205 62.44 326 55.83 Northern Ireland Office 426 32.63 694 21.61 Office of the Deputy Prime Minister 94 53.19 126 71.43 Other Departments 35 80 0 0 Scotland Office 15 6.67 2 100 Wales Office 1 0 3 100 Totals 4,063 58.04 4,950 55.64