Vol. 558 No. 5
141 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the number of civil servants employed in the answering of parliamentary questions; the annual cost to the State; and the estimated number of employee hours spent on answering these questions every year. [25124/02]
My attention has not specifically been drawn to the number of civil servants engaged in answering parliamentary questions, or to the annual cost to the State or the estimated employee hours involved. In this regard no staff in my Department are assigned full time to dealing with PQs. PQs are dealt with, as the need arises, by the staff in the sections dealing with the particular issue(s) raised in individual PQs. The number and level of staff and the time spent on an individual answer depends on the complexity and importance of the issue raised, the form in which the information exists in the Department and the form of the proposed response, i.e. whether oral or written. In my own Department I responded to some 1,600 PQs in 1999 (of which 378 were oral), some 1,800 in 2000 (of which 377 were oral), some 1,750 in 2001 (of which 358 were oral) and some 1,300 to date in 2002 (of which 239 were oral). It is not possible to quantify the cost for the reasons outlined above. Producing a current annual cost to the State for staff and time spent answering such questions would require a detailed civil service wide survey to be undertaken and I have no plans to institute such a survey at this time.
