asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the average length of time taken by the Northern Ireland Office to reply to Parliamentary Questions tabled in the House of Lords in each of the past two parliamentary Sessions; and what steps they are taking to shorten this time. [HL695]

The Northern Ireland office received 1,603 House of Lords Parliamentary Questions in the past two Sessions.

The average time taken to answer a Question was 19 days. However, this figure includes Questions that were tabled in the final days of each parliamentary term that were not answered until the start of the new term.

The department attaches considerable importance to answering all Parliamentary Questions within the accepted time limits. Since devolution a number of measures have been introduced to improve performance, including issuing daily reminders and weekly performance reporting.