Department of Health and Social Care: Written Questions
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average number of days overdue was for Named Day Written Parliamentary Questions to his Department which were overdue for a substantive answer at the end of the 2024–26 Parliamentary Session.
Answered by Karin Smyth
Information on the number of Written Parliamentary Questions the Department had not answered substantively before prorogation is available at the following link:
The tabling date of the oldest such question was 2 January 2026.
Internal Department records show that 14 Named Day Written Parliamentary Questions were overdue for a substantive answer at the end of the 2024-26 Parliamentary Session. The average number of days overdue for a substantive answer for these particular questions was 14.85.
The Department received 22,545 Written Parliamentary Questions during the 2024-26 session, which was a Whitehall record and far greater than any other Government department. Based on a 2012 estimate of £164 average cost to the taxpayer per question tabled, indexed to £242.16 based on inflation, this would equate to £5,459,497 on current values.
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