Question to the Leader of the House:

To ask the Leader of the House, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the time taken to respond to (a) written questions and (b) letters from hon. Members.

The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence and written questions. Some departments are seeing a significant increase in correspondence during the pandemic but it is vital that members are able to ask questions of departments on behalf of constituents with confidence that they will receive a timely and useful response. I have written to all members of Cabinet to remind them of the importance of this.