Written Questions

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his Department's target time is for answering written parliamentary questions; and what the average time taken for answering parliamentary questions has been in each of the last 12 months. (180134)

The Department aims to answer parliamentary questions within the timescales set by Parliament. The average time taken to answer written House of Commons parliamentary questions in each of the last 12 months is in the following table.

*Average number of working days taken to answer Commons written PQs in 2007*
Month	Average number of days
January	14
February	16
March	18
April	16
May	16
June	9
July	8
September	5
October	6
November	8
December	12

Average for 2007	12
Note: Average number of days relates to days when Parliament was sitting and replies to parliamentary questions could be tabled.

Volume 472: debated on Wednesday 20 February 2008