Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Question 239: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the guidelines and timeframes the Health Service Executive parliamentary affairs division is following regarding parliamentary questions forwarded to it from her Department; if there are no current guidelines, if she will recommend what she thinks are suitable; and if she will make a statement on how accountable she expects the HSE to be to Dáil Éireann. [29813/07]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The operation of the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the HSE (PAD) allows for the centralised receipt, assignment and tracking of Parliamentary Questions within the HSE's extensive network of operations. More generally, PAD monitors overall performance in relation to the timely issue of replies and provides a central contact for all requests from Oireachtas members for information relating to matters within the statutory remit of the Executive. The PAD aims to provide replies within 20 working days from the date of answer of a Parliamentary Question.

The Chief Executive Officer of the HSE, Professor Drumm, recently reiterated to Oireachtas members the importance he attaches to providing replies to Parliamentary Questions and affirmed his focus on improving the turnaround time for replies to the greatest possible extent. In this context, the Chief Executive Officer circulated a briefing document to Oireachtas members which informed them of his decision to introduce a shorter time frame of 15 working days for replies from January 2008 and also outlined new accountability structures being introduced to further improve the HSE's performance in this area.