Christy O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 310: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the length of time it is acceptable to wait for an answer to a query directed to the Health Service Executive from her Department following a parliamentary question. [9224/08]

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, the 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 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, on 8th November 2007 the Chief Executive Officer circulated a briefing document to Oireachtas members which informed them of his decision to introduce a time frame of 15 working days for replies from January 2008 and also outlined new accountability structures in that regard.