§ John ThursoTo ask the Leader of the House (1) how many(a) Ordinary Written and (b) Named Day Questions his office 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; [170770]
(2) what proportion of (a) Ordinary Written Questions to his office 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) the current parliamentary session up to the most recent date for which figures are available, broken down by month. [170771]
§ Mr. HainMinisters have an obligation to parliament to ensure that Members receive a substantive response to their named day question on the named day and to endeavour to answer an ordinary written question within a working week of it being tabled.
Ministers and their Departments should also make every effort to ensure that the live load of questions still awaiting a substantive reply should be kept to a minimum at all times.
During the 2002–03 session my office received 91 Ordinary Written and 46 Named Day Questions, of which 88 per cent. and 96 per cent. respectively were answered within the above targets.
So far this session my office has received 44 Ordinary Written and 19 Named Day Questions, of which 84 per cent. and 100 per cent. respectively were answered within the above targets.
The breakdown per month and the proportion of Questions answered are shown in the following tables:
3W
2002–03 Ordinary Written Percentage answered within five sitting days Named Day1 Percentage answered on Named Day November 3 67 7 100 December 5 80 2 100 January 10 90 5 100 February 8 75 5 60 March 7 86 8 100
2002–03 Ordinary Written Percentage answered within five sitting days Named Day1 Percentage answered on Named Day April 23 96 10 100 May 10 80 3 100 June 5 60 2 — July 9 100 0 — August 0 — 0 100 September 5 100 1 100 October 1 100 3 100 November 5 100 0 —
2003–04 Ordinary Written Percentage answered within five sitting days Named Day1 Percentage answered on Named Day November 5 80 0 — December 2 100 5 100 January 2 100 3 100 February 12 83 4 100 March 19 42 3 100 April 4 100 4 100 1Named Day figures include Questions not answered orally.