Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government when they amended the guidance on responding to parliamentary questions to take account of the use of external contractors in preparing and drafting responses.

Departments are responsible for their responses to written parliamentary questions. Written parliamentary questions receive final sign off from Ministers.

The Cabinet Office has produced guidance for civil servants on drafting answers to parliamentary questions. This can be found on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/drafting-answers-to-parliamentary-questions-guidance.

Civil servants and Ministers conduct these duties in line with their respective codes of conduct.

The Department of Health and Social Care has outlined that the department’s contract included a general clause for Deloitte to provide support to civil servants in responding to written questions, freedom of information requests and media queries. They have not been directly responsible for drafting replies.