Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the savings to her Department from the Q&A system in the (a) 12 months and (b) five years since 4 June 2014; what additional ICT systems or improvements to existing systems her Department has introduced or plans to introduce that would not have been feasible without the Q&A system; and what assessment she has made of the extent to which the system has made it easier to answer questions from hon. Members on time.

The Department for Education has not estimated potential savings from the Q&A system over the periods requested. We have also made no assessment of the extent to which the system has made it easier to answer questions on time.

The system has, however, been welcomed by the Department. It is now easier and quicker to submit answers to parliamentary questions online, compared to the previous process of submitting answers in hard copy.

The Department is currently developing a new IT system to handle its parliamentary questions and wider correspondence. While this system would have been introduced without the introduction of the Q&A system, we understand that the two systems will be compatible and this could lead to a more efficient process for receiving questions and submitting answers in future.