§ John ThursoTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) 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; [171191]
(2) what proportion of Ordinary Written Questions to his Department were answered within five sitting days of tabling, and what proportion of questions for 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. [171192]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonThe available information is shown in the tables.
169W
1. Ordinary written questions received by the Department during the 2002–03 session, broken down by month, with their average
answering times
Month Number received Average time taken to answer
(working days)
November 2002 438 9.9 December 2002 557 13.9 January 2003 628 9.3 February 2003 822 9.6 March 2003 617 8.6 April 2003 566 11.9 May 2003 637 11.6 June 2003 744 8.4 July 2003 1837 25.6 August 2003 — — September 2003 502 13.2 October 2003 426 9.4 November 2003 467 7.2 All months 7,241 12.0 1 Some 50 per cent. of these questions were tabled for answer in September.
2. Named day questions received by the Department during the 2002–03 session, broken down by month, with their average answering times Month Number received Average time taken to answer
substantively
(working days)
November 2002 221 9.1 December 2002 168 10.4 January 2003 122 7.1 February 2003 122 9.1 March 2003 116 7.1 April 2003 94 9.1 May 2003 97 8.6 June 2003 144 7.3 July 2003 85 11.1 August 2003 — — September 2003 76 16.7 October 2003 131 6.6 November 2003 102 4.5 All months 1,448 8.8 168 per cent. of all questions were given a holding reply. 170W
3. Ordinary written questions received by the Department during the 2003—04 session, broken down by month, with their average answering times Month Number received Average time taken to answer
(working days)
November 2003 174 10.9 December 2003 527 12.5 January 2004 511 8.4 February 2004 597 10.4 March 2004 796 9.7 April 2004 584 7.5 All months 3,189 9.7
4. Named day questions received by the Department during the 2003—04 session, broken down by month, with their average answering times Month Number received Average time taken to answer
substantively
(working days)
November 2003 22 10.9 December 2003 130 9.1 January 2004 116 6.9 February 2004 110 9.2 March 2004 138 9.8 April 2004 63 6.6 All months1 579 8.6 163 per cent. of all questions were given a holding reply. The Department endeavours to reply to all questions from hon. and right hon. Members in a timely, helpful and accurate manner.