HC Deb 10 May 2004 vol 421 cc39-40W
John Thurso

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many(a) Ordinary Written and (b) Named Day Questions his Department received in (i) 2002–03 and (ii) this parliamentary session, broken down by month. [171185]

Mr. Stephen Twigg

The information appears in the following tables.

Named Day Questions Ordinary Written Questions
Year 2002
November 23 12
December 82 213
Year 2003
January 58 320
February 45 294
March 51 296
April 53 343
May 48 248
June 87 445
July 37 359
August 0 3
September 41 236
October 62 323
November 43 312
Total 630 3,404
Current session Named Day Questions Ordinary Written Questions
Year 2003
November 10 36
December 84 331
Year 2004
January 98 451
February 89 360
March 122 525
April 48 509
Total 451 2,212

John Thurso

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of Ordinary Written Questions to his Department were answered within five sitting days of tabling, and what proportion of Questions for a Written Answer on a named day received a substantive answer on that day, in (a) the 2002–03 parliamentary session and (b) this parliamentary session, broken down by month. [171186]

Mr. Stephen Twigg

The requested information is listed in the following tables. DfES Ministers take their parliamentary responsibilities very seriously and endeavour to reply to all Parliamentary Questions within the specified deadline.

2002–03 parliamentary session
Percentage
Percentage of ordinary written questions answered within five sitting days of tabling Percentage of named day questions receiving a substantive answer on named day
November 45 57
December 68.87 37
January 81.33 24
February 63.71 27
March 74.64 42
April 52.43 26
May 57.75 50
June 70.33 22
July 80.92 26
August n/a n/a
September 82.15 54
October 76.82 42
November 92.46 52
Current parliamentary session 2003–04
Percentage
Percentage of ordinary written questions answered within five sitting days of tabling Percentage of named day questions receiving a substantive answer on named day
November — 1n/a
December 65.6 21
January 71.47 20
February 70.47 22
March 81.45 38
April 80.74 20
1The current Parliamentary session began on 28 November. No questions were due for answer between then and 30 November