To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of Parliamentary Questions tabled for written Answer by his Department on a named day in session 2008-09 received a substantive Answer on that day. (307547)

842 parliamentary questions for named day response were tabled to the Home Office during the 2008-09 parliamentary session. 129 (15 per cent.) of these questions received a substantive answer on the day named.

Central guidance on answering parliamentary questions is now available in the ‘Guide to Parliamentary Work’, at:

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/parliamentary-clerk-guide.aspx

In the response to the Procedure Committee Report on Written Parliamentary questions, the Government accepted the Committee’s recommendation that Departments be required to provide the Procedure Committee with sessional statistics in a standard format on the time taken to respond to written parliamentary questions, accompanied by an explanatory memorandum setting out any factors affecting their performance. This will be taken forward as soon as possible.