§ John ThursoTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) how many(a) ordinary written and (b) named day questions his Department received in (i) the 2002–03 and (ii) this parliamentary session up to the most recent date for which figures are available, broken down by month; [170768]
(2) what proportion of (a) ordinary written questions to his Department were answered within five sitting days of tabling, and (b) questions for a named day received a substantive answer on that day, in (i) 2002–03 and (ii) this parliamentary Session up to the most recent date for which figures are available, broken down by month. [170769]
§ Mr. StrawIn the 2002–03 parliamentary Session my Department received 591 named day parliamentary questions (PQs) and 2,779 ordinary written PQs. My Department answered 74 per cent. of named day PQs on time and 76 per cent. of ordinary written PQs within five working days.
As of 4 May in the 2003–04 parliamentary Session my Department has received 250 named day PQs and 1,161 ordinary written PQs. My Department has answered 76 per cent. of named day PQs on time and 86 per cent. of ordinary written PQs within five working days.
1736WI have placed a copy of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office PQ statistics, broken down by month, for both parliamentary Sessions in the Library of the House.