Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 152: To ask the Minister for Health his views on whether it is acceptable for a Deputy to wait more than two months for a response from the Health Service Executive to a written question sent to him and passed on to them. [19057/11]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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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. It reports on a regular basis to the Chief Executive Officer and his management team.

The Executive is very conscious of the need for prompt replies to Parliamentary Questions and there is regular liaison between my Department and the Executive in this regard. While the Executive attempts to answer all questions referred to it as quickly as possible, many of the questions submitted by Deputies request large and detailed amounts of statistical data on a variety of subjects which require input and coordination from all areas of the Executive.

Up to the end of June this year 1072 Parliamentary Questions were referred to the HSE for Direct Reply. Of those 595 (55.5%) were answered on target within 15 days. Within a further 5 days 68 (6.3%) additional Questions were answered and a total of 750 (70%) were answered within 25 days. Some 70 (6.5%) Questions were unanswered after 31 days. Recently, the HSE has undertaken a number of initiatives to improve response times to Parliamentary Questions and to deal with other queries from members of the Oireachtas.

The Programme for Government contains a number of proposals to improve the handling of Parliamentary Questions, Adjournment Debates etc. It is expected that these initiatives will be progressed across all Government Departments in due course. Since taking office I have decided that Parliamentary Questions relating to operational issues of a national / regional scale or importance as well as high profile individual issues will now be answered by myself or the relevant Minister of State instead of being referred to the HSE. Whenever possible these questions will be answered on the relevant Dáil sitting day. Where this is not possible because the information is not readily available, a reply will be issued as soon as possible thereafter. Questions concerning individual patients and operational matters relating to local issues will continue to be referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to Deputies.

While my Department has ultimate accountability for the health services, it is my belief that a balance has to be struck between responsibility for local issues, which rests with local area service managers, and the ultimate accountability of Ministers. If the Deputy provides me with details of the Parliamentary Question he is referring to I will follow it up with the HSE.