To ask the Leader of the House what changes have taken place to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to enable it to answer Questions for Written Answer within 14 days, in view of the performance of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in the 2008–09 session to 30 April when it was the worst department with 30 per cent of questions answered within 14 days. [HL766]

Ministers and officials at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the previous Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) and the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) are committed to providing Peers with accurate and timely Answers to Parliamentary Questions. Following changes to ministerial portfolios in the summer, and the merger of DIUS and BERR, the Parliamentary Unit was restructured and more resources were made available within the Unit to improve the answering time for Peers Questions. The department is pleased that in October 2009, 91 per cent (20 of 22) of Answers were provided to Peers within 14 days and 100 per cent (7 of 7) in November prior to prorogation.