Written Parliamentary Questions: Departmental performance in Session 2024-26

Status / emerging findings

• DEFRA and DHSC both receiving unprecedented volumes of WPQs (4,000 and 1,179 per month respectively) but performance consistently below 85% target across five consecutive Secretaries of State at DEFRA, suggesting structural rather than leadership-driven problems
• Bottlenecks have shifted from centralised quality-checking delays to distributed policy teams lacking capacity during news-driven peaks, with named-day questions and sewage/water-pollution inquiries showing disproportionately worse performance
• Both departments doubled WPQ team capacity and implemented mitigations (daily tracking, internal league tables, early intervention systems) but remain below target, indicating capacity alone insufficient
• DHSC acknowledges the 85% target is 'incredibly stretching' given its question volume exceeds all other departments; reabsorption of NHS England expected to streamline processes
• Chair issued follow-up correspondence to six departments in April 2026 requesting performance data, with responses received May 2026—inquiry appears to be widening scope beyond initial DEFRA/DHSC focus

Why it matters

Written Parliamentary Questions are MPs' primary tool to hold ministers accountable on behalf of constituents; systematic failure to answer them on time undermines parliamentary scrutiny and the functioning of democratic accountability.

Tone arc

Started as procedural diagnostic (May session exploring DHSC capacity issues), shifted to systemic concern (June session revealed DEFRA's five-Secretary-of-State failure pattern and bottleneck shifts) and evolved into broader departmental audit (April 2026 follow-up letters to Cabinet Office, DCMS, MHCLG, FCDO suggesting the Committee views this as a government-wide accountability problem.

Key witnesses

Rt Hon Steve Reed MP (Secretary of State, DEFRA), Rebecca Shrubsole (Director, DEFRA), Karin Smyth MP (Minister, DHSC), Tom Riordan (Second Permanent Secretary, DHSC)