Committee publication · Correspondence · 2 July 2025

Letter from Defra relating to WPQ performance, dated 30 June 2025

Inquiry: Written Parliamentary Questions: Departmental performance in Session 2024-26

Summary

Defra responds to the Procedure Committee's concern about pursuant questions, stating that incomplete first answers are not a consistent issue but acknowledging a small number of cases where fuller responses might have reduced follow-ups. The department outlines improvement measures including weekly timeliness reporting, daily clearance monitoring, and peer learning from high-performing departments, achieving 88.7% on-time publication of Commons PQs from 4–23 June.

Key findings

Defra's examination found pursuant questions are not consistently caused by incomplete initial answers; follow-ups often reflect Members pursuing new lines of inquiry
Department identified a small number of cases where fuller initial answers could have reduced follow-up questions and commits to staff training on identified cases
Improvement measures in place: weekly SCS timeliness reporting, daily Private Office clearance rate reporting, daily PQ risk meetings, and clearance diary slots
Defra benchmarked with other high-performing departments to identify process efficiencies
Since 4 June, Defra achieved 88.7% on-time publication of Commons PQs and aims to meet the Secretary of State's target of 85% or better by end of July 2025

Tone

Procedural

Topics

parliamentary-proceduregovernment-accountabilityperformance-management

Key actors

Rebecca Shrubsole, Cat Smith MP, Procedure Committee, Defra, Secretary of State

Notable line

“… we identified a small number of cases where - with hindsight - a slightly fuller answer may have been more helpful and reduced the likelihood of follow-up questions.”

Key Quotes

“Our examination did not reveal this to be a consistent issue across all 'pursuant' questions sent to Defra.”
— Rebecca Shrubsole · responding to Committee's concern about incomplete initial answers prompting follow-up questions

“We will use these, and any other cases the Committee would care to highlight to us, to educate staff with the aim of reducing repetitions.”
— Rebecca Shrubsole · committing to training following identification of cases where fuller answers would have helped

“Early indications are these, combined with the Committee's attentions in this space, are producing the desired result.”
— Rebecca Shrubsole · on the effectiveness of improvement measures undertaken by Defra

“Since the Oral Evidence session on 4 June (from 4-23 June), Defra's internal case management system shows that we have published 88.7% of Commons PQs on time.”
— Rebecca Shrubsole · demonstrating improvement in on-time PQ publication

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Source · parliament.uk record ↗