Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what structures are in place to ensure consistency of quality across departments in responding to Questions for Written Answer in line with constitutional norms, especially regarding the need to be "as open as possible" in answering (LJ (1996–97) 404).

It is for individual Departments to ensure that written Parliamentary Questions (PQs) are answered in line with the Ministerial Code.

The Ministerial Code sets out that Ministers must give accurate and truthful information to Parliament. It also states that Ministers should be as open as possible with Parliament. The Cabinet Office produces guidance to officials on drafting answers to PQs. This is available on GOV.UK;

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/drafting-answers-to-parliamentary-questions-guidance. A Minister may refuse to answer a question on the grounds of unreasonable or disproportionate cost of researching an answer.

The Leader of the House of Lords’ Office oversees Departments’ performance and the quality of answers in response to Peers questions. Internal committees of both Houses conduct similar scrutiny of Departmental performance in responding to PQs.