§ John ThursoTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (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; [170766]
(2) what proportion of (a) ordinary written questions to his Department we re 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. [170767]
§ Mr. Paul MurphyThe following table sets out the total number of ordinary written question and named day questions asked of my department by hon. Members in 2003 and up to 31 April 2004, broken down by month.
2003 2004 (up to 31 April) Ordinary written January 233 324 February 163 263 March 198 327 April 125 248 May 208 — June 354 — July 214 — August 0 — September 172 — October 147 — November 105 — December 143 — Total 2,062 1,162 Named day January 15 22 February 34 31 March 32 49 April 33 27 May 9 — June 19 — July 16 — August 0 — September 10 — October 17 — November 10 — December 28 — Total 223 129 The other information sought is not available in the form requested, but the following may be of use. From 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2003, a total of 3,134 parliamentary questions, including those asked by Members in Another Place, were tabled for answer by ministers in my Department, or on their behalf.
From 1 May 2003 to 31 December 2003, the 11 Departments of the NI administration for which I currently have responsibility answered 986 ordinary 691W written questions, of which 79 pet cent. were responded to within a working week of the question being tabled. of the 65 named day questions tabled in the same period 80 per cent. were answered by the specified date. The corresponding information in respect of the Northern Ireland Office itself is not currently available.