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. The Health Service Executive is committed in their National Service Plan to answering 75% of directly referred Parliamentary Questions within a period of 15 working days from receipt. Performance in relation to this target is currently being met and will continue to be monitored closely by my Department.
In 2012 a total of 4,045 PQs were referred by my Department to the Health Service Executive for direct written response to members of the Oireachtas. 3,011 (74.5%) of those PQs were answered within the stipulated 15 day timeframe. A further 344 (8.5%) were answered within another 5 days . That is, 83% of all written PQs referred to the Health Service Executive were answered within 20 working days. Despite a doubling in volume of PQs in 2012 as against 2011, the “on time” performance increased by 16.5% from 58% to 74.5% and is now in line with the National Service Plan.
The Health Service Executive makes as many of its PQ responses as possible available on their website at www.hse.ie. As a significant proportion of PQs answered by the HSE relate to individual matters, under data protection legislation, they can not be made publically available. In 2012 the Health Service Executive uploaded a total of 759 responses to their public website. My Department holds regular meetings with the Health Service Executive's Parliamentary Affairs Division to monitor response times and to emphasise the importance of issuing timely and comprehensive replies to Deputies.
