Written question asked by David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party) on Friday, 22 January 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 26 January 2010. It was answered by Sarah McCarthy-Fry (Labour) on Friday, 29 January 2010 on behalf of the Treasury.

Departmental Written Questions

Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what average time his Department took to answer questions for (a) ordinary written answer and (b) written answer on a named day in the last 12 months.

Answer: In the calendar year 2009, Treasury Ministers answered ordinary written questions substantively in an average of seven working days. 2,163 of the 2,804 questions concerned (77.1 per cent.) were answered within a week of tabling. Treasury Ministers answered named day questions in an average of five working days. 685 of the 884 questions concerned (77.4 per cent.) were answered on the nominated day.With effect from the current Session of Parliament, each Department will provide the Procedure Committee with sessional statistics on the time taken to answer written questions. This implements recommendation 24 of the third report from the Procedure Committee, Session 2008-09.

Secondary information