Committee publication · Correspondence · 28 January 2026
Correspondence with the Table Office relating to Written Parliamentary Questions, dated 9 September and 20 October 2025.
From: Procedure Committee
Inquiry: Written Parliamentary Questions
Summary
Correspondence between the Procedure Committee (Chair Cat Smith MP) and the Table Office concerning written parliamentary questions (WPQs). The Committee sought data on WPQ volumes, the 'carding' process (editorial intervention by the Table Office), e-tabling systems, and training. The Table Office provided detailed responses showing a 16.59% carding rate in 2025, with a small cohort of 30 Members (5% of tabling Members) submitting 38% of all questions; one Member submitted 2,866 questions in 2025 alone.
Key findings
- WPQ volumes have increased significantly; 2025 shows 66,424 questions tabled year-to-date with carding rate of 16.59%, up from 12.49% in 2019-24 Parliament
- Extreme concentration: 13 Members responsible for first quartile (25%) of all WPQs; one Member tabled 2,866 questions in 2025, 57% during recesses
- 'Carding' (Table Office advisory intervention) driven primarily by clarity, neutral language, duplication, ministerial responsibility scope, and government information blocks; Table Office has relaxed application of factual basis requirement in recent months
- E-tabling system removed sitting-day volume limits (20 questions per day) but eliminated recess limits entirely; 4,641 questions submitted during summer 2025 recess exceeded processing capacity; 30 Members averaged 20% carding rate despite tabling high volumes
- Training uptake remains low (9 Members and 131 staff attended 20 post-election sessions; 76 staff completed online course); 83% of trainees reported satisfaction; Table Office proposes mandatory training for Members' staff accessing MemberHub
Tone
FactualTopics
Key actors
Cat Smith MP, Tom Healey, Procedure Committee, Table Office, Speaker, Members of Parliament, Parliamentary Digital Service
Notable line
“One individual Member has submitted 2,866 questions in 2025, of which 1,596 (57%) were submitted during recesses.”
Key Quotes
“'Carding' – so called because the Office used to send postcards to Members in the internal mail – is the means by which the Table Office invites Members to have a conversation about their questions.”
“… a very large proportion of Questions originate from a relatively small number of Members' accounts. This means that a single individual tabling the maximum possible number of Questions on MemberHub (100 each sitting week, with no limit at all in recesses) can have a disproportionate impact on the overall card rate if their questions tend to be disorderly.”
“The move towards online tabling has reduced the amount of face-to-face contact between Clerks in the Office and Members, with a corresponding impact on our ability to work constructively with Members to help them understand the system and the rules that underpin it.”
“During the 2025 summer recess, 4,641 questions were submitted, of which 3,695 were processed. Eight Members tabled over 100 Questions, one of whom tabled more than 1,000.”
“The application of this rule has been relaxed in recent months, and an increasing number of questions that might previously have required 4 Rules of order regarding form and contents of questions - Erskine May - UK Parliament …”
“Those who do participate in the training find it useful: some 83% of the 48 people who completed a survey following training stated that they were "very satisfied", and the number of questions carded generally decreases following the training.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗