Speeches by Chamberlain.

“In my response before we suspended, I was talking about the different types of written parliamentary questions and categorising them as Front-Bench, departmentally focused questions and, potentially, Back-Bench, more constituency-focused questions. My view is that a lot of the time we are asking written parliamentary q…”

“This is where the role of the House in educating the wider public is very important. I found it interesting that in the last Parliament there were a number of newspaper articles that asked, “How hard is your MP working?”, and written parliamentary questions were part of that. Dare I say it, I was very happy to do well …”

“I think we have been quite clear to the Committee already that we are not. We believe that the volume of written parliamentary questions, which is one of the things that this Committee is considering, has been driven by the delays in responses. I think we have all been in the Chamber when points of order have been made…”

“I start by wishing my hon. Friend the Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Bobby Dean) all the best for his parental leave. Sadly, and particularly for his wife, I have no news to update the House with, but I hope to be able to do so in due course. I draw the House’s attention to the devastating civil war in Sudan, wh…”

“I rise to speak, on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, both as a member of the Modernisation Committee and, at one point during this inquiry, as a witness. That is also true of the Leader of the House, who gave evidence to the Committee before he became its Chair. The work we do in this place is complicated, but sometime…”

“I largely share Alex’s view in that I think the current limits are appropriate. If colleagues want to submit more, there are ways to do that in person at the Table Office, so they can go and do that. I have already touched on this in my evidence, but colleagues are potentially thinking, “I will submit multiple short qu…”

“Yes, would be the short answer from me, if I think about it. It is also important that, within MemberHub, you are ultimately responsible as the Member. There are different levels within MemberHub in terms of staff, who is appropriate and at what appropriate level they input. Talking about myself as an individual MP, my…”

“I am probably of a similar view. I accept that the evidence says that the numbers are increasing, but I suppose that what we need to know—we have not touched on this so far—is House resource in terms of responding from the Table Office and so on. Unless the Committee were persuaded that that is an issue from a resourci…”

“I don’t know if I can answer the question in terms of appropriateness, but it is always good to review these things on a regular basis. I have certainly picked up from Members—both Front Benchers and Back Benchers—that it feels that there is an increased number of cardings by the Table Office. That is more for oral que…”

“I think exactly the same. Clearly, third sector or other organisations see that opportunity to suggest written parliamentary questions as a key part of the engagement they have with parliamentarians. It is then the responsibility of the parliamentarian to ensure that that is not just submitted without thought or consid…”

“The only thing that that would impact is named day questions, as it would extend the named day question by one. I personally don’t feel too strongly about that. I suppose my question would again be about the reasoning for that. If it is down to the Table Office and resource, I would be open to that.”

“Coming back to the fact that more than half of the House is new, I would ask whether colleagues are actually aware of that. It is probably one of those things that you don’t know until you need to ask the question to find out, so that is an interesting point. I am very conscious that when we have an Opposition day comi…”

“I concur with the majority of what Alex said, other than the fact that I encourage colleagues to be mindful of their use of named day questions and whether it is to elicit an urgent response—which can potentially be for what is happening out there—and be mindful of the need for that, as well as the deadlines that Alex …”

“At a very basic level, why would I submit questions during recess? Usually it would be because the work that is associated with the questions I would want to ask comes across my desk in that period, and sometimes that is the opportunity when staff, particularly the staff based here, have the opportunity to draw a bit o…”

“I am Wendy Chamberlain. I am the Member of Parliament for North East Fife, and I have served as the Liberal Democrat Chief Whip since September 2020.”

“Thank you very much. I will try to limit my remarks as much as possible to the role of Front Benchers in the third party, given I am aware that you have invited Back-Bench Members to come and talk about this. To follow on from what Alex said, one of the things about written parliamentary questions is that they are the …”

“3. What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce energy prices for people in Scotland.”

“I agree with a lot of what Alex said. Any of us who sit in the Chamber for any length of time will have heard a point of order being made by an individual Member in relation to response rates from Departments in terms of letters and written parliamentary questions. I can certainly see circumstances where I have used wr…”

“I welcome what the Minister has said, but the challenge is that the Government have yet to correct the challenges from the ECO4 scheme, which in North East Fife has blighted houses with not only a lack of insulation but poor installation of inappropriate heat pumps and so on. Can the Secretary of State advise me when t…”

“Alex has pulled out a good point. Bambos, you asked a question about staff and access to MemberHub in relation to asking the questions, but I think what Alex was talking about is the responsibility of the Minister in relation to the response. I can think of a very good example from just a few weeks ago. I have a fishin…”