More than 4,000 Parliamentary Questions were answered by the Minister for Health and Children during the year 2000. The volume of questions so far in 2001 would indicate that a total of similar proportions can be anticipated this year. In a single month the number of questions answered can be as high as 656. This represents the highest total of questions answered by any Minister or Department and I make the point that the headquarters staffing of the Department of Health and Children is not large, relatively speaking. Also, the preparation of responses to Parliamentary Questions, which is always given due priority by the Department, is one of many pressing demands on the limited staffing resources of the Department.
This is the context within which the approach to various types of Parliamentary Questions is adopted. In general, questions break down into three types: those which are properly for the Department and where the necessary information is readily to hand; questions which are proper to the Department but which require further research and data collection; and questions on issues which are quite clearly a matter for local management of health boards or the Eastern Regional Health Authority.
The objective of the Minister and the Department in each case is to be as helpful and informative as possible, bearing in mind the overall limitations on staff time and the need for efficient use of public resources in addressing the Department's extensive brief.
In the case of the question referred to by the Deputy, all of the information required was not readily available. To ensure that the reply was both accurate and comprehensive, considerable research and consultation was required. The final reply to the Deputy was issued at the earliest date by which these criteria could be met.
Apart from the timing of the reply, I will comment on its content. Far from being a symptom of paralysis, as the Deputy has suggested elsewhere, I would regard it as a great strength of policy making by my Department that it engages in a considerable degree of consultation and in- depth analysis of issues. Public policy-making is no longer the preserve of a select few politicians and senior civil servants. Contemporary models of public management quite deliberately emphasise the importance of consultation and a partnership approach and I make no apology for observing the principles of participative decision making in discharging my role.