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Parliamentary Questions (PQs)
A guide for those who work for an MP
Added 26 April 2007
MPs ask thousands of Parliamentary Questions every Session. Some ask more than others, but they are a crucial technique for eliciting information from the Government.
While your MP may well draft and table many questions himself/herself, you will also have to do this for them, by filling them in on the orange forms provided by the Table Office. If you have access to the Intranet, you can find the form by going to:
- Intranet Main Page > House Administration > House of Commons > Department of the Clerk of the House > The Table Office > Questions and Early Day Motions > Questions
Always get Parliamentary Questions authorised by your MP before they go to the Table Office.
There are 3 types of Parliamentary Questions - all must be directed at a particular Government Department
- Oral – added to the ballot for the Question Time of each Department on the Floor of the House. Limited time means not all can be answered.
- Written – will be answered with a written answer sent to your MP, and also printed in Hansard. There is no time limit imposed on the Government to answer these. Civil servants in the relevant Government department will draft the answers for the relevant Minister.
- Written for Named Day – when you need an answer fast, you can table a question for Named Day Answer by a certain date (minimum of three days after tabling)
Drafting PQs
A PQ is simply for obtaining information from the Government; it can't be used to make a point or pass an opinion. So:
- It must not be biased – your language needs to be neutral. For example, if you table a Question using the word 'failure', this is accusing the Government. The Table Office will remove it and change it to 'performance' or something similar.
- It also can't convey any information or make an argument.
- It cannot seek opinion - only information. You can draft around this, however – so instead of asking what a Minister thinks of something, you can ask 'what assessment he/she has made', or 'what estimate he/she has made'.
- Keep language simple and the Question as concise as possible - use the minimum number of words you need to, and do not use words which are too descriptive. For example, most Questions asking a Minister what 'action' or 'measures' he/she is taking will be changed to 'steps'.
- There must be a basis for the question - it cannot be based solely on, for example, newspaper speculation.
- It cannot ask information for which that Department is not responsible – check you've got the right Department, and that the issue is not the responsibility of one of the devolved administrations.
- Also check the Question hasn't already been asked and answered recently.
- Check that the information isn't blocked – e.g. discussions taking place during Cabinet meetings, which are not obliged to be disclosed.
- Be careful of asking for information which it would be considered sub judice to provide (information which would bias a court procedure). In a PQ you cannot make reference to an active court case. A case is considered active in a criminal court when a charge has been made and in a civil court when the case has been 'set down' for trial.
Check all the following are correct before submitting to the Table Office:
- You've ticked the correct box for the type of question.
- If written for named day, your 'named day' is a minimum of three days later.
- It is written for the correct department.
- It is legible.
- Grammar is correct.
- Question is in the right style.
- It has been authorised by your MP.
On 30 November 2004, the Leader of The House was asked various questions in relation to MPs' requests to be able to ask PQs during Recess. Read the questions and their responses here: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmhansrd/cm041130/debtext/41130-05.htm#41130-05_sbhd2
It's useful to scan the Questions Book each day to look at what other MPs are tabling, especially if your MP has a portfolio.
'Disorderly' Questions
If the Table Office has any problems with a Question they receive, your MP will receive a card in the post asking them to contact the Table Office to discuss the Question and how it might need to be changed. This is known as the Question being 'carded'. If a Question is carded, unfortunately, only your MP can discuss this with the Table Office staff. They can usually give general advice to staff, but when it comes to the specific wording of a Question, it’s their policy to talk only to the MP. For example, if a Question for your Member has been carded, they can tell you what’s wrong with it but any further advice (e.g. offering alternatives) can be given only to the Member himself/herself.
Oral Questions
Every day (except Fridays) MPs ask ministers questions in the House about various government policies or recent events.
Ministers from each government department must come to the House roughly once a month, on a rota basis, to answer these Oral Questions. The questions are submitted two weeks in advance, giving the minister and his or her civil servants plenty of time to prepare detailed replies.
After the minister's initial reply, the questioner is free to ask a "supplementary" question, as long as it is on the same general topic. Other Members may then intervene.
If your MP has a Question selected in the ballot, you'll need to prepare a supplementary Question. The relevant adviser or researchers should be able to provide one for you, if it's not an area you're familiar with. The minister and his/her civil servants will have tried to predict the supplementary and formulate an answer in advance. Therefore, in Opposition, the more unpredictable the supplementary, whilst staying on the topic, the better. You want to try and put the Minister on the spot!
From your point of view, Oral Questions particularly can also provide excellent opportunities for getting some press, especially locally if your MP is challenging a Minister, or even the Prime Minister, about a pressing constituency matter.
What if your MP can't attend?
If your MP can't attend a Question Time in which he/she has had their Question selected by the ballot, you need to have the Question 'unstarred'.
First, phone your Whips' office and let them know; then you need to call the Table Office. They'll ask you to fax a confirmation note that you do not want the Question to be called by the Speaker. If you forget to do this, the Speaker will be calling your MPs name in the Chamber while your MP is at the dentist, or in the constituency or whatever other task meant they could not attend.
The Question will instead be submitted as a Written Question, and you'll receive a Written Answer in the post.
Tracking Questions
According to The Guardian, there are hundreds of questions which remain unanswered, some of them after eleven months. Read the full article here: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/commons/story/0,9061,1361713,00.html
You can use PIMS to look up all the Questions your MP has tabled and had answered, but you may want to implement your own system, to make it easier to recognise if you haven't received an answer to one for your Questions.
Www.theyworkforyou.com counts the number of Questions each MP has answered in a Session, and so you can use this to check your office isn't tabling below the average. Previously, the site used to rank MPs in order based on the number of Questions tabled, but doesn't do so any more, to avoid MPs and researchers tabling frantically to try and move up the rankings - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article735429.ece
And PQs cost £138 each to get answered!
Having said that, make the best use of Parliamentary Questions that you can. They are a simple and effective way of scrutinising the work of ministers, and you’ll find countless ways to utilise the answers, from debates in the Chamber to generating proactive press stories.
CD April 2007
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