Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member printed question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

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

870274

	registered interest
	date	23/03/2018
	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	Statutory Instruments: Parliamentary Scrutiny
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Leader of the House whether statutory instruments before the House for approval following consideration in Grand Committee are debatable; whether there is any time limit on such debates; and what steps she intends to take to inform Ministers of the position.
	tabling member printed	Lord Forsyth of Drumlean
	uin	HL6608
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2018 answer text <p>Approval motions for affirmative instruments - whether they have previously been considered in a Grand Committee or not - are debatable and not normally time-limited.</p><p><br>Standing Order 28 sets out that debate on such motions, as with all other motions, must be relevant to the question before the House.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Evans of Bowes Park question first answered 28/03/2018 11:17:06 answering member 4329 label Biography information for Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
	tabling member	1141 label Biography information for Lord Forsyth of Drumlean

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

758575

	registered interest
	date	07/09/2017
	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	Department for Communities and Local Government: Written Questions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Leader of the House what explanation, if any, she has received from the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government as to why six questions for written answer tabled on or before 19 July had not been answered by 6 September; and when she expects those questions to be answered.
	tabling member printed	Lord Jopling
	uin	HL1446
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2017 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).</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>In this instance I am informed by the Department that delays to five of these late responses were as a result of administrative errors. I have been advised that these issues have now been identified and resolved. I have been reassured that the Secretary of State takes this seriously and that he has made clear to officials that it is essential it does not happen again. The members concerned were contacted by the Department to apologise for the delay and these questions have now been answered.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>With regard to question number HL1066 from Lord Pearson of Rannoch, this remained unanswered by 6 September due to an error with IT systems maintained by the House which meant that it was not allocated to the correct department. The technical issue which was causing problems with transfers and amendments has now been resolved and the question has now been answered.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>My office will continue to work with all departments to ensure prompt and satisfactory answers to QWAs.</p> answering member printed Baroness Evans of Bowes Park question first answered 14/09/2017 11:14:28 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

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

867271

	registered interest
	date	19/03/2018
	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	Brexit
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Leader of the House how much time she proposes that the House will allocate to the debate of the final draft of the Brexit agreement.
	tabling member printed	Viscount Waverley
	uin	HL6478
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2018 answer text <p>Business in the House of Lords is arranged through consultation with the Usual Channels. For its part, the Government will ensure that sufficient time is offered to consider the final deal in Parliament, including in the House of Lords.</p> answering member printed Baroness Evans of Bowes Park question first answered 28/03/2018 11:18:48 answering member 4329 label Biography information for Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
	tabling member	1744 label Biography information for Viscount Waverley

788328

	registered interest
	date	13/11/2017
	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	House of Lords: Select Committee Reports
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Leader of the House whether she has plans to ensure that Government departments (1) abide by their undertaking to provide responses to the reports of select committees within two months of publication, and (2) reply fully to the recommendations set out in those reports.
	tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
	uin	HL3120
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/11/2017 answer text <p>I have recently written to Lords ministers to reiterate the importance of providing timely responses to select committee reports and I am assured that ministers are working hard to ensure the Government respond to reports within two months of their publication. However, sometimes circumstances dictate that it will not be possible to provide a response within this timeframe. Sometimes a later timeframe is agreed with the committee in question when it may be possible to give a fuller response at a later point. In such instances the relevant government department will maintain contact with the relevant select committee chairman and secretariat.</p><p>The Government values the work of the select committees of this House, and understands the importance of proper engagement with them. The House has the opportunity to consider Government responses alongside the report at the point at which it is debated and I recognise the importance of having sufficient time to consider it beforehand. This is an important way that the House holds Government to account for the quality and timeliness of the response.</p> answering member printed Baroness Evans of Bowes Park question first answered 22/11/2017 12:13:59 answering member 4329 label Biography information for Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
	tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

869171

	registered interest
	date	21/03/2018
	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	Insolvency
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Leader of the House what plans she has to propose a debate in the House of Lords on their consultation on Insolvency and Corporate Governance, announced on 20 March.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hunt of Chesterton
	uin	HL6544
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2018 answer text <p>My Noble Friend the Chief Whip has no immediate plans to schedule such a debate but I have made him aware of this question. It is of course open to the Noble Lord to use the established routes to seek a backbench debate.</p> answering member printed Baroness Evans of Bowes Park question first answered 28/03/2018 11:17:32 answering member 4329 label Biography information for Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
	tabling member	2543 label Biography information for Lord Hunt of Chesterton

782441

	registered interest
	date	02/11/2017
	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	Questions for Short Debate
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Leader of the House whether she intends to review the rule under which Members who ask a question for short debate have no right of reply at the end.
	tabling member printed	Lord Pearson of Rannoch
	uin	HL2864
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/11/2017 answer text <p>Questions for short debate, which remain the principal means by which backbenchers are able to secure 1-1½ hour debates in the Chamber or Grand Committee, are, by design, treated as questions rather than motions. As such there is no right of reply.* Standing Order 32(2) is also clear in that members may only speak once to questions for short debate, save, with the leave of the House, to clarify a point they have made in their speech.</p><p>The speaking time limits for additional backbench contributors in the twenty-five questions for short debate we have had so far in this session have ranged from two to ten minutes. Any change to the present arrangements would of course be a matter for the Procedure Committee. I can only note that revising the procedure so that the member asking the question had a right of reply within the 1 or 1½ hour time limit would reduce the time available to other members when debates are well-subscribed.</p><p><br>*Paragraph 6.32 of The Companion to the Standing Orders and Guide to the Proceedings of the House of Lords.</p> answering member printed Baroness Evans of Bowes Park question first answered 07/11/2017 12:00:57 answering member 4329 label Biography information for Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
	tabling member	3153 label Biography information for Lord Pearson of Rannoch