Speeches by Dewhirst.

“I am Charlie Dewhirst, Conservative Member of Parliament for Bridlington and The Wolds. For full disclosure, I am also a member of the shadow Cabinet Office team and shadow Northern Ireland Office team as PPS to Alex Burghart. I should also point out that I worked here for a Member of Parliament between 2005 and 2008 a…”

“I suspect that the fact that the system now exists as an online portal makes the tabling of questions much easier. You do not have to print off a paper copy and take it to the Table Office as you used to. That would encourage more questions, particularly during recess periods, when you can still crack on and do that wi…”

“They are a very important tool, particularly for those of us in Opposition parties, for holding the Government to account and accessing information that would not otherwise be available to us. It is a vital tool that we have as Members to access that sort of information. It has been frustrating since I was elected in J…”

“The Table Office need to be encouraged, perhaps, to let a lot of questions through to the next part of the chain. There can always be pushback from Departments—from those who are answering the questions—if they feel a question is unreasonable, if they do not hold the information or if it has gone to the wrong person, a…”

“There is a bit of a mix; it is not a uniform approach. You do find that different Departments are more forthcoming than others with information. Some clearly hold things quite close to the chest, and it can be more challenging. One example of where there is a real issue here is when a written question tabled by a Membe…”

“I am a bit of a luddite on AI, I am afraid; I do not use it for anything. The point of the questions we are asking is that there is a theme and a reason why we are pushing, with pursuants and everything else. Perhaps I am not technologically advanced enough to do it, but AI perhaps would not help me in that sense, unle…”

“I maybe do not put in as many questions as the previous witness, although I still put in a reasonable number, but what is wasting a lot of time is the unnecessary querying. I will give another example of a shadow team issue that we have had. Often, we get to departmental questions and certain issues have not gone away …”

“No. There is a lack of consistency across the board. I would be frustrated if I were on the other side in the Table Office, because there is this problem where they are not allowing the flow of questions through that they should be. If they did, they might find they could spend their time properly querying the question…”

“No. I know this issue came to light probably around six months after the last election, certainly from my perspective. I know that the Speaker has issued guidance to try to encourage a slight change in the way of working. It does not appear to have changed in any way; the situation has not got any better. I hope the Co…”

“I suspect that the fact that the system now exists as an online portal makes the tabling of questions much easier. You do not have to print off a paper copy and take it to the Table Office as you used to. That would encourage more questions, particularly during recess periods, when you can still crack on and do that wi…”

“No. There is a lack of consistency across the board. I would be frustrated if I were on the other side in the Table Office, because there is this problem where they are not allowing the flow of questions through that they should be. If they did, they might find they could spend their time properly querying the question…”

“No. I know this issue came to light probably around six months after the last election, certainly from my perspective. I know that the Speaker has issued guidance to try to encourage a slight change in the way of working. It does not appear to have changed in any way; the situation has not got any better. I hope the Co…”

“No. There is a lack of consistency across the board. I would be frustrated if I were on the other side in the Table Office, because there is this problem where they are not allowing the flow of questions through that they should be. If they did, they might find they could spend their time properly querying the question…”

“I maybe do not put in as many questions as the previous witness, although I still put in a reasonable number, but what is wasting a lot of time is the unnecessary querying. I will give another example of a shadow team issue that we have had. Often, we get to departmental questions and certain issues have not gone away …”

“I am Charlie Dewhirst, Conservative Member of Parliament for Bridlington and The Wolds. For full disclosure, I am also a member of the shadow Cabinet Office team and shadow Northern Ireland Office team as PPS to Alex Burghart. I should also point out that I worked here for a Member of Parliament between 2005 and 2008 a…”

“No. I know this issue came to light probably around six months after the last election, certainly from my perspective. I know that the Speaker has issued guidance to try to encourage a slight change in the way of working. It does not appear to have changed in any way; the situation has not got any better. I hope the Co…”

“No. There is a lack of consistency across the board. I would be frustrated if I were on the other side in the Table Office, because there is this problem where they are not allowing the flow of questions through that they should be. If they did, they might find they could spend their time properly querying the question…”

“I maybe do not put in as many questions as the previous witness, although I still put in a reasonable number, but what is wasting a lot of time is the unnecessary querying. I will give another example of a shadow team issue that we have had. Often, we get to departmental questions and certain issues have not gone away …”

“I suspect that the fact that the system now exists as an online portal makes the tabling of questions much easier. You do not have to print off a paper copy and take it to the Table Office as you used to. That would encourage more questions, particularly during recess periods, when you can still crack on and do that wi…”

“I maybe do not put in as many questions as the previous witness, although I still put in a reasonable number, but what is wasting a lot of time is the unnecessary querying. I will give another example of a shadow team issue that we have had. Often, we get to departmental questions and certain issues have not gone away …”