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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

581661

	registered interest
	date	12/09/2016
	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	House of Lords: Recess
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Leader of the House why there are half-term recesses for the House of Lords.
	tabling member printed	Lord Stoddart of Swindon
	uin	HL1797
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/09/2016 answer text <p>The business of the House is scheduled in a way which allows for periodic adjournments, including at half-term. This is the case because many of its members have family or other outside commitments away from the House, in many cases away from London. The House of Commons has a similar pattern of adjournments.</p> answering member printed Baroness Evans of Bowes Park question first answered 20/09/2016 12:36:28 answering member 4329 label Biography information for Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
	tabling member	950 label Biography information for Lord Stoddart of Swindon

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

657749

	registered interest
	date	13/12/2016
	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	Written Questions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Leader of the House what arrangements are in place to ensure that, in answering Questions for Written Answer, government departments are, as required by the Ministerial Code, "accurate and truthful" and as "open as possible" in the answers they provide to members of the House of Lords; whether she has put in place a system to provide quality assurance of the answers provided by government departments to members of the House of Lords; and if so, what..
	tabling member printed	Lord Harris of Haringey
	uin	HL4068
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2016 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. This is something I stress regularly to frontbench colleagues and which I will certainly reiterate in the light of the Noble Lord’s question. My office also engage regularly with private offices and Parliamentary teams when issues arise, both proactively and in response to concerns raised by individual members. It is for Ministers, though, to be directly accountable for the content of their answers, which is why I fully support the rule that Ministers must personally sign all answers to members of the House of Lords.</p> answering member printed Baroness Evans of Bowes Park question first answered 20/12/2016 17:18:58 answering member 4329 label Biography information for Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
	tabling member	2671 label Biography information for Lord Harris of Haringey

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

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

156522

	registered interest
	date	19/11/2014
	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 what steps she takes to ensure the quality of answers to parliamentary questions; and what assessment she has made of the length of time taken to provide them.
	tabling member printed	Lord Laird
	uin	HL2945
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/12/2014 answer text <p>It is the responsibility of individual ministers to decide what answers they give to Questions for Written Answer (QWAs), and they are of course accountable to the House for those answers. That direct accountability is important: that is why Ministers in this House must provide personally signed answers to members. The Ministerial Code states that <em>“It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament”.<br><br></em>As Leader of the House I have a particular responsibility to encourage Ministers and their departments to be punctual in answering written questions. 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. At the end of this Session I will publish data on the annual performance of departments on their promptness in dealing with QWAs.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Stowell of Beeston question first answered 03/12/2014 12:49:49 answering member 4205 label Biography information for Baroness Stowell of Beeston
	tabling member	2479 label Biography information for Lord Laird

226856

	registered interest
	date	11/03/2015
	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	Treasury: Written Questions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Leader of the House what discussions she has had with HM Treasury in the light of 12 of the 15 Written Questions awaiting answer on 11 March for more than the target 10 working days being to HM Treasury.
	tabling member printed	Lord Jopling
	uin	HL5645
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2015 answer text <p>I take very seriously my responsibility as Leader of the House to encourage Ministers to be punctual in answering written questions. 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 was followed with HM Treasury for the 12 questions that remained unanswered after 10 working days on 11 March. All of those questions have now been answered. At the end of this Session I will publish data on each department’s promptness in dealing with Questions for Written Answer to allow for proper scrutiny of their performance.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stowell of Beeston question first answered 24/03/2015 13:41:23 answering member 4205 label Biography information for Baroness Stowell of Beeston
	tabling member	883 label Biography information for Lord Jopling

227330

	registered interest
	date	13/03/2015
	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 what guidance she issues to Departments in respect of their providing full answers to questions for written answer, particularly when failure to answer has been followed up.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Gardner of Parkes
	uin	HL5717
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2015 answer text <p>As Leader of the House, I have a particular responsibility to encourage departments to be punctual in answering written questions, but the content of each answer is a matter for the minister concerned. All Ministers are accountable to the House for those answers. That direct accountability is important: that is why Ministers in this House must provide personally signed answers to members.</p><p> </p><p>To inform Ministers in answering questions put to them, the Ministerial Code says that “It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament”. It also makes clear that “Ministers should be as open as possible with Parliament and the public, refusing to provide information only when disclosure would not be in the public interest”. In addition, the longstanding rules of this House on Questions for Written Answer (rules that the House reaffirmed in agreeing to the Procedure Committee’s 5<sup>th</sup> Report of the 2014-15 Session) set out that all answers should be complete and comprehensible.</p><p> </p><p>If any member has particular concerns about a response that they have received that they consider does not adhere to these rules, I would encourage them to raise it with me directly.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Stowell of Beeston grouped question UIN HL5810 question first answered 24/03/2015 13:45:04 answering member 4205 label Biography information for Baroness Stowell of Beeston
	tabling member	3596 label Biography information for Baroness Gardner of Parkes