To ask the Leader of the House whether she will make proposals for allowing appeals against refusals to answer Written Questions to be made to the Information Commissioner.

My Lords, Ministers are, of course, responsible for the Answers to Written Questions. The principal role of the Information Commissioner is to enforce and oversee the statutory Data Protection Act and Freedom of Information Act regimes. As paragraph 5.15 of the Companion makes clear, Written Questions are not,

“a ‘request for information’ under the Freedom of Information Act”.

It is right that these processes remain distinct. Accordingly, I will not be making any such proposals.

My Lords, it strikes me that, wonderful though Written Questions usually are, there can be occasions when one comes across a department that is reluctant to provide the information requested, and one finds oneself in a situation where we have given to the citizen powers that we have not given to ourselves. Does not the Leader think that it would be good to find a way in which we can encourage departments to provide information—if not by the mechanism that I have suggested—and perhaps even have adjudication on their refusal to do so, so that we can take to ourselves the powers that we have given to everybody else in this land?

My Lords, there are three or four issues here. First, it is very important that the distinction between the two regimes should remain. Secondly, it is of course open to any Member of Parliament to request information under the Freedom of Information Act; and should they so wish, noble Lords should avail themselves of that process. As for departmental Questions, if Members are not satisfied with the Answers to Questions, they can ask further Questions. They can ask Oral Questions if the first Question was a Written Question; they can see the departmental Minister concerned; and they can come and see me. So a range of various options is available to Members of this House.

My Lords, is it not perfectly reasonable to suggest that each House of Parliament should publish an Order Paper that shows which Questions have been asked under freedom of information legislation by individual Members of Parliament? Why should that not be made available to the public?

My Lords, I have not encountered that suggestion before. I will read carefully what the noble Lord has said and reflect on it.

My Lords, will the Leader of the House seek to strengthen Parliament’s own capability in this sphere, particularly to enable it to respond fully and quickly in public debate? Yesterday, in current business, there were 81 Questions unanswered within the 14 days that the Companion sets out as the expectation, and 15 of those were tabled as long ago as 18 November. That does not seem to me to help Parliament to be responsive in the way that I think we all would wish.

My Lords, I am acutely aware of the responsibility of Ministers to answer Parliamentary Questions. If the noble Lord were to look at the statistics over the past few months, he would see that things have improved exponentially. That is not to say that it is not entirely wrong that there should be 82 unanswered Questions, and that 15 of those date from November. I must say in mitigation that in this House we are quite properly expected to answer Questions within a 14-day deadline, and that includes the Christmas period. There are a couple of Questions for which I am responsible which were tabled on 16 December, and the deadline was 30 December. Noble Lords will understand why we missed that deadline, and I can only apologise to the House.

My Lords, there seems to be here a dog that has not barked in the night, so to speak. Does the noble Baroness agree that at the root of this is the question of how often it happens? I have not yet heard anybody say how frequently a departmental Minister or officials refuse to answer a Question. Surely that is relevant to this debate.

My Lords, I think that it is very infrequent and that where there is reluctance to provide certain information, it is on the basis of the Data Protection Act or similar considerations. It is not a reluctance to provide the information as such but is in order to protect certain individuals.

Given that my noble friend Lord Lucas is clearly going to be dissatisfied with the reply of the noble Baroness the Leader of the House, what does she advise him to do next?

My Lords, I will continue to reflect on this issue. I believe that the noble Lord’s Question stems from a problem that he has had, but we have had discussions, there have been discussions with the department, and, as I understand it, the specific issues have now been resolved or are in the process of being resolved.

Will my noble friend also reflect on the paradox that I get much more detailed information through FOI requests than I get through Parliamentary Answers? Civil servants still have a tendency to draft for Ministers Parliamentary Answers that—save for the presence of the most reverend Primate the Archbishop—remind me of the definition of a bikini: what it reveals is less interesting than what it conceals. I ask my noble friend to think carefully about ensuring that civil servants get instructions to take account of FOI legislation and to be far more forthcoming in drafting Answers for Ministers.

My Lords, I hear what the noble Lord says and I have some sympathy with that point of view. The principle is that one should not get less information from a Parliamentary Answer than one receives under FOI. The thing is that under FOI one receives raw information, whereas under a Parliamentary Answer it is—

Spun.

No, my Lords, not spun—absolutely not spun. It is made into a Parliamentary Answer. I heed the noble Lord’s words, however, and I will certainly take them back to all departments.

My Lords, I am sure that we are all most grateful to the Leader of the House for the pressure that she exercises pretty regularly on our behalf to get good Answers quickly. However, in view of the difficulty she has, it would be very interesting to know whether she applies the pressure to Permanent Secretaries or to Secretaries of State.

My Lords, I usually write to Permanent Secretaries. If that does not have the required effect, I take it up with my colleagues in the Cabinet.