§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many Parliamentary Questions have been tabled to her Department since 1 January 2003, broken down by(a) ordinary written and (b) named day; what percentage in respect of (a) were answered within 10 working days; and what percentage in respect of (b) were answered by the specified date. [157519]
§ Mr. CabornMinisterial colleagues and officials at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport attach great importance to answering parliamentary questions accurately and to time. We aim to ensure that all Members receive a substantive response to an ordinary written question within a working week of it being tabled and that named day questions are answered on the specified date.
1,532 House of Commons written Parliamentary Questions were tabled to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for answer between 1 January 2003 and 26 February 2004. This figure excludes those questions either withdrawn by the Member or transferred to another Department.
1,356 ordinary written questions were answered during this period. Of these 1,131 (83.4 per cent.) were answered within 10 working days.
176 named day questions were answered during this period. Of these 105 (59.6 per cent.) were answered on the specified date or named day.