APPENDIX 21
Memorandum submitted by the Cabinet Office
PROCESSING OF PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS WITHIN
WHITEHALL
1. This Memorandum is submitted following
a request from the Procedure Committee for a general paper about
how Parliamentary Questions are processed within Whitehall.
2. The Cabinet Office issues Guidance
to Officials on Drafting Answers to Parliamentary Questions. The
Guidance was last updated and reissued in December 2001 following
recommendations made by the Public Administration Select Committee
in their report on Ministerial Accountability and Parliamentary
Questions. A copy of the guidance is attached at Annex A.
No other central guidance is issued (other than the guidance issued
by the Treasury on disproportionate cost).
3. A general outline of how Departments
process and monitor Parliamentary Questions is at Annex B.
Cabinet Office
29 April 2002
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