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Parliamentary Questions Numbers

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 June 2013

Thursday, 27 June 2013

Ceisteanna (263)

Charles Flanagan

Ceist:

263. Deputy Charles Flanagan asked the Minister for Health the number of parliamentary questions written and oral transferred by his Department to the Health Service Executive for reply to Deputies in each of the years 2010, 2011, 2012 and to date in 2013. [31333/13]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

My Department receives an average of 6,000 Parliamentary Questions each year. Around 50% 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.

The number of Parliamentary Questions referred to the HSE for direct reply from 2010 to date are as follows:

2010 - 2,550 (43% of total tabled)

2011 - 2,464 (48% of total tabled)

2012 - 3,049 (53% of total tabled)

2013 (to date) - 1,772 (50% of total tabled)

The Deputy may wish to note that in the current year, while the Executive's National Service Plan includes a commitment that 75% of questions referred to it for direct response will be answered within 15 working days it is currently answering 81% within this time frame.

Since I took Office I decided that Parliamentary Questions relating to operational issues of a national scale or importance should be 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. Of the 259 such questions to date in 2013, 255 (98%) have been answered in full.

There is ongoing contact between my Department and the HSE's Parliamentary Affairs Division and we will continue to monitor response times and emphasise the importance of issuing timely and comprehensive replies to Deputies.

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