Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the savings to his 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 his Department has introduced or plans to introduce that would not have been feasible without the Q&A system; and what assessment he has made of the extent to which the system has made it easier to answer questions from hon. Members on time.

We have made no estimate of savings specifically arising from the introduction of the Q&A system, and have not improved or added to existing systems. The Q&A system allows us to receive questions directly from the Table Office, and for hon. Members to receive answers more quickly by removing the need for the delivery of printed versions.

One of the potential benefits of the new system is for the reporting of the timeliness of answers to Parliamentary Questions to be delivered with greater consistency and accuracy across all answering bodies.

It will be for the Procedure Committee to evaluate the effectiveness of the new system in improving performance when it assesses the evidence following the end of the session.