My Department receives an average of 6,000 parliamentary questions each year. Around 60% of these questions concern operational issues and are referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to Deputies. Many of these questions relate to individual patients and local day to day operational matters.
Parliamentary questions relating to operational issues of a national scale or importance are answered by myself or the relevant Minister of State instead of being referred to the HSE. Whenever possible these questions are answered on the relevant Dáil sitting day. Where this is not possible because the information is not readily available, a reply is issued as soon as possible thereafter. These are classified within my Department as ministerial response questions.
The statistical data sought by the Deputy in relation to the number of PQs referred and response times since 2005 is set out below. From 2006 to 2007 the executive worked to a timeframe of issuing responses to directly referred PQs within 20 working days of receipt. From 2008 this was reduced to 15 working days.
2005 - 2,388 referred - average response rate not available
2006 - 3,060 referred - 55% answered within 20 days
2007 - 2,744 referred - 65% answered within 20 days
2008 - 3,544 referred - 73% answered within 15 days
2009 - 3,145 referred - 62% answered within 15 days
2010 - 2,550 referred - 53% answered within 15 days (Performance in this year was affected by prolonged industrial action)
2011 - 2,464 referred - 58% answered within 15 days
2012 - 3,049 referred - 75% answered within 15 days
I would like to assure the Deputy that responding to the information needs of the Oireachtas is a priority both for my Department and the Executive. As noted above, the executive is committed, in the 2012 National Service Plan, to answering 75% of directly referred Parliamentary Questions within a period of 15 working days of receipt. Performance in relation to this target it is currently being met and will continue to be monitored closely. The executive introduced a new IT system in the last quarter of 2011 and this has led to a significant improvement in its overall response time to referred questions. The most recent statistics available for this year (up to 9 October) show that of the 3,049 questions referred for direct reply this year, 2,274 (75%) have been answered within the 15 day timeframe. Taking into account questions which took longer than the 15 day timeframe to answer, the figures show that 2,981 (98%) of referred questions have now been answered. The figures for ministerial response questions show that of the 496 questions referred to the executive for input, 464 (94%) have been answered in full. Regular meetings are held with the HSE's parliamentary affairs division to monitor response times and to emphasise the importance of issuing timely and comprehensive replies to Deputies.
Questions concerning individual patients and operational matters relating to local issues will continue to be referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to Deputies. While my Department has ultimate accountability for the health services, it is my belief that a balance has to be struck between responsibility for local issues, which rests with local area service managers, and the ultimate accountability of Ministers.
