Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 19 May 2025 to Question 51150 on Freedom of Information and Written Questions: Costs, what the notional hourly cost of civil service time when assessing a written parliamentary question further to the £850 threshold under paragraph 218 of the Guide to Parliamentary Work is.

I refer the Member to my previous answer to PQ 51150. The cost limit is calculated at a flat rate of £25 per hour.

The Guide to Parliamentary Work also makes reference to the Procedure Committee's advice that the threshold “be calculated only with regard to policy team time—it should not account for any central processing in parliamentary branches or WPQ teams, or the time taken by Ministers or their advisers” (paragraph 219).