To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what percentage of answers to parliamentary questions provided by his Department have been the subject of a subsequent correction in each of the last five years; how many such corrections have been made by (a) Written Ministerial Correction, (b) a letter to the hon. Member tabling the Question and (c) other means; and what criteria his Department uses to determine by which method to issue a correction. (277237)

The procedure for making corrections to answers to parliamentary questions was introduced from November 2007 and information is not available from an earlier date.

Since November 2007, we have made 22 written ministerial corrections and issued six written ministerial statements to correct written answers. This represents 0.2 per cent. of the 12,310 written Commons questions received during that period. For the criteria used to judge whether a correction or a statement should be issued, I refer the hon. Member to the 2^nd Report from the Procedure Committee “Corrections to the Official Report” (HC541) on 19 June 2007 and the written ministerial statement issued by my right hon. and learned Friend the Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal (Harriet Harman) on 18 October 2007, Official Report, column 55WS. On each case, we seek advice from the Table Office.