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679316

registered interest
date	26/01/2017
answering body	Leader of the House of Lords
answering dept id	92
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name	Leader of the House of Lords
hansard heading	Ministry of Justice: Written Questions
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask the Leader of the House, further to her Written Answer on 23 January (HL4521), whether the shortage of resources within the Ministry of Justice will be resolved in time for the outstanding Question for Written Answer tabled on 16 November (HL3278) to be answered before the end of February.
tabling member printed	Lord Jopling
uin	HL5030
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/02/2017 answer text <p>As detailed in my previous answer (HL4521), I have recently written to Lord Keen of Elie QC and the Secretary of State for Justice to make clear the House’s expectations with regards to Questions for Written Answer. I am informed that the Ministry of Justice has taken steps to rectify the issue, including making further process improvements, for example reducing the internal deadlines to allow more time for clearance. Lord Keen of Elie QC has also had discussions with senior officials within the Department about its recent performance. The Ministry of Justice has now cleared all overdue Questions for Written Answer, including HL3278, which was answered on 30 January 2017.</p><p>My office will continue to work with all departments to ensure prompt and satisfactory answers to Questions for Written Answer.</p> answering member printed Baroness Evans of Bowes Park question first answered 08/02/2017 17:44:21 answering member 4329 label Biography information for Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
tabling member	883 label Biography information for Lord Jopling

671118

registered interest
date	10/01/2017
answering body	Leader of the House of Lords
answering dept id	92
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name	Leader of the House of Lords
hansard heading	Written Questions
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask the Leader of the House whether the failure on 10 January of the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice to answer Questions for Written Answer which had been tabled in November 2016 was in part due to those departments not being fully staffed to normal levels in the days following the bank holiday on 2 January.
tabling member printed	Lord Jopling
uin	HL4521
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2017 answer text <p>As Leader of the House I take very seriously the responsibility incumbent on all Ministers to provide full, timely and comprehensible answers to Questions for Written Answer (QWAs). My office immediately approaches departments who have not responded to questions after 10 working days, and remains in contact with them until the questions are answered.</p><p>I am informed that due to ongoing technical problems with software used by the Home Office for processing answers to QWAs, the usual clearance process has experienced delays since October which have caused a backlog. I have been assured that steps have now been taken to safeguard against the problem reoccurring.</p><p>The Ministry of Justice recognise recent reductions in performance with regard to QWA responses, which I am informed is due to a reduction in resources​ ​as ​a result of process and system changes. The Department has assured me that they have taken steps to rectify this, including making further process improvements.</p><p>I have written to the Secretaries of State for both Departments to stress the importance of providing full and timely responses to QWAs and have written to my front bench team to reiterate the House’s expectations in the light of recent performance.</p> answering member printed Baroness Evans of Bowes Park question first answered 23/01/2017 15:09:22 answering member 4329 label Biography information for Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
tabling member	883 label Biography information for Lord Jopling

582663

registered interest
date	13/09/2016
answering body	Leader of the House of Lords
answering dept id	92
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name	Leader of the House of Lords
hansard heading	Ministry of Justice: Written Questions
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask the Leader of the House what explanation she has received from the Ministry of Justice concerning its failure to answer by 9 September a Question for Written Answer that was asked on 20 July (HL1379).
tabling member printed	Lord Jopling
uin	HL1846
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/09/2016 answer text <p><strong>The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Evans of Bowes Park):</strong></p><p>I regularly stress to departments the importance of giving timely answers to Questions for Written Answer. My office immediately approach departments who have not responded to questions after 10 working days, and remain in contact with them until the questions are answered. This process has been followed in both of the cases to which the noble Lord refers.</p><p>In the case of the Ministry of Justice question, I am informed that the delay related the process of transferring it to the right department for response. After discussion it was transferred to the Cabinet Office, who will provide a substantive answer by close of play this week. As regards the Department for Education questions, I am informed that the delay related to gathering complex data spanning a long period and the need to obtain clearance from across government. Both of the questions concerned have now been answered.</p><p>Regarding timely replies more generally, I have recently written to the three departments with the greatest proportion of late responses in the last session and I regularly set out the House’s expectations as they apply to QWAs to my frontbench team. Notwithstanding the cases referenced above, I am pleased to say that the proportion of on-time responses from the Ministry of Justice rose from 74% of questions in 2014-15 to 87% in 2015-16; while the Department for Education answered well over 90% of questions on time in both sessions.</p> answering member printed Baroness Evans of Bowes Park question first answered 27/09/2016 15:42:54 answering member 4329 label Biography information for Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
tabling member	883 label Biography information for Lord Jopling

582664

registered interest
date	13/09/2016
answering body	Leader of the House of Lords
answering dept id	92
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name	Leader of the House of Lords
hansard heading	Department for Education: Written Questions
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask the Leader of the House what explanation she has received from the Department for Education concerning its failure to answer by 9 September two Questions for Written Answer that were asked on 19 July (HL1338) and 21 July (HL1440).
tabling member printed	Lord Jopling
uin	HL1847
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/09/2016 answer text <p><strong>The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Evans of Bowes Park):</strong></p><p>I regularly stress to departments the importance of giving timely answers to Questions for Written Answer. My office immediately approach departments who have not responded to questions after 10 working days, and remain in contact with them until the questions are answered. This process has been followed in both of the cases to which the noble Lord refers.</p><p>In the case of the Ministry of Justice question, I am informed that the delay related the process of transferring it to the right department for response. After discussion it was transferred to the Cabinet Office, who will provide a substantive answer by close of play this week. As regards the Department for Education questions, I am informed that the delay related to gathering complex data spanning a long period and the need to obtain clearance from across government. Both of the questions concerned have now been answered.</p><p>Regarding timely replies more generally, I have recently written to the three departments with the greatest proportion of late responses in the last session and I regularly set out the House’s expectations as they apply to QWAs to my frontbench team. Notwithstanding the cases referenced above, I am pleased to say that the proportion of on-time responses from the Ministry of Justice rose from 74% of questions in 2014-15 to 87% in 2015-16; while the Department for Education answered well over 90% of questions on time in both sessions.</p> answering member printed Baroness Evans of Bowes Park question first answered 27/09/2016 15:43:05 answering member 4329 label Biography information for Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
tabling member	883 label Biography information for Lord Jopling

576333

registered interest
date	05/09/2016
answering body	Leader of the House of Lords
answering dept id	92
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name	Leader of the House of Lords
hansard heading	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Written Questions
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask the Leader of the House, further to her Written Statement on 21 July (HLWS128), what discussion she has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in the light of that Department's position as the Department having the worst record in answering Questions for Written Answer within 10 working days, and whether the Secretary of State intends to make a Written Statement to explain what steps have been taken within that Department to match the overall record of government departments in answering 93 per cent of Written Question within 10 working days.
tabling member printed	Lord Jopling
uin	HL1573
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/09/2016 answer text <p>I take very seriously my responsibility as Leader of the House to encourage Ministers to be punctual in answering written questions. I recently published data on departmental performance in answering Questions for Written Answer for the 2015/16 session, where I was pleased to see that 93% of questions were answered within 10 working days. Nevertheless, we must always strive to do better. I have written to the three departments with the greatest proportion of late responses in the last session to make clear the House’s expectations and to stress the importance of timely responses.</p><p> </p><p>Though the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (formerly the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) received 475 Questions for Written Answer in 2015/16 - more than double the number received in the previous session - Ministers were nevertheless disappointed by the department’s performance. In response the department has put in place a range of actions to improve performance, including strengthening internal deadlines and procedures. Baroness Neville-Rolfe, as the Lords Minister, has stressed to me how seriously the department takes its responsibilities to Parliament and is confident that performance will improve in this session.</p><p><br>My office continues to work with all departments to ensure prompt and comprehensive responses to all Questions for Written Answer. I will continue to publish data on an annual basis to allow analysis of performance over time. This practice is important in highlighting where improvements in timeliness could and should be made.</p> answering member printed Baroness Evans of Bowes Park question first answered 19/09/2016 09:08:00 answering member 4329 label Biography information for Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
tabling member	883 label Biography information for Lord Jopling