APPENDIX 3
Letter from the Chairman to Members of
Parliament
MINISTERIAL ACCOUNTABILITY
AND PARLIAMENTARY
QUESTIONS
As you know, the Public Administration Committee
carries out an annual inquiry into Ministerial Answers to Parliamentary
Questions, seeking to identify the reasons why information is
withheld, and whether certain Departments are more forthcoming
than others and to encourage all Departments to specify the article
of the Code on Access to Government Information under which answers
are refused. This Session, for the first time, an analysis will
also be carried out of the number of questions which are not answered
on the grounds of "disproportionate cost".
The Committee understand that there is a further
long-standing problem which causes irritation to Members. This
concerns answers which reply only to part of a question; ignoring
the rest.
The Committee are anxious to establish the extent
of this problem in order to decide whether it too should be monitored
on a regular basis. They therefore invite Members to send any
examples to the Clerk of the Committee by 14 April. One or two
good examples are more useful to us than lots of more marginal
ones.
While the Committee are aware that Members may
be dissatisfied with answers for a variety of reasons, they are
seeking information here only about cases where Ministers ignore
part of a question.
Thank you for your assistance with this.
Dr Tony Wright MP
Chairman
16 March 2000
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