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1240/5(6025)
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CHIEF MINISTER
BY SENATOR B.E. SHENTON
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 15th FEBRUARY 2011
Question
At the States sitting of the 1st February, 2011 there were a total of 53 questions requiring answers (35 written/18 oral), will the Chief Minister provide an estimate of the work involved in collating answers and estimated costs incurred on behalf of all Ministers for the 53 questions -
Name | No. Of Questions | Estimated Man Hours | Estimated Cost (£) |
Senator A. Breckon | 2 (W*) |
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Senator F. du H.Le Gresley | 1 (W*) |
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Senator J.L. Perchard | 3(W*) |
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Connétable Grouville | 1 (O+) |
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Deputy A.K.F. Green | 3 (2W* & 1O+) |
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Deputy M.R. Higgins | 4(2W* & 2O+) |
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Deputy P.V.F. Le Claire | 6 (5W* & 2O+) |
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Deputy R.G. Le Herissier | 1 (O+) |
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Deputy G.P. Southern | 7 (5W* & 2O+) |
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Deputy of St John | 6 (4W* & 2O+) |
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Deputy of St Martin | 4 (2W* & 2O+) |
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Deputy of St Mary | 5 (4W* & 1O+) |
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Deputy S. Pitman | 1 (O+) |
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Deputy T.M. Pitman | 7 (5W* & 2O+) |
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Deputy M. Tadier | 2 (2O+) |
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TOTAL | 53 |
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*W - Written +O – Oral
Answer
It is very difficult to provide an accurate and meaningful estimate of the work involved in answering the 53 questions asked at the States Sitting on 1st February 2011. The amount of work
involved answering questions asked of Ministers varies according to the number of questions asked of individual Ministers, the nature and complexity of the questions, the amount of research required to answer the questions, and the number of staff, and their grades, involved in the process of answering the questions.
To answer the question asked by Senator Shenton in the format requested would require a disproportionate amount of work compared to the benefit derived. However, in order to assist in providing a reasonable estimate of the work undertaken by departments in answering States Questions on 1st February 2011 I can provide the following data:
Man hours and Costs incurred by department in answering States Written and Oral Questions for the States Sitting on 1st February 2011
Department | Estimated Man Hours | Estimated Cost (£) |
Chief Ministers | 26 | 1,045 |
Economic Development | 36.5 | 1,935 |
Education, Sport & Culture | 4 | 197 |
Health & Social Services | 60 | 3,000 |
Home Affairs | 36.5 | 1,335 |
Housing | 3.5 | 168 |
Planning & Environment | 3.5 | 229 |
Social Security | 12 | 554 |
Transport & Technical Services | 16.5 | 590 |
Treasury & Resources | 33.5 | 1,980 |
Committee de Connetable | 2 | 48 |
PPC | 3 | 178 |
Total | 237 | 11,259 |
If the estimated total cost of £11,259 is typical for a States Sitting then the estimated cost for the year would be in the region of some £200,000.
For Members' information the total amount of time taken across departments to answer this question is estimated to be approximately 41 staff hours at an estimated cost of £1,315.
For further information I can provide Members with a breakdown of the number of States Questions from 2006 – 2010 which I attach as an appendix.
Appendix
NUMBER OF QUESTIONS
2006 to 2008 totals
The breakdown of Ministers, Panels, Committees and others with official responsibilities answering the written questions was as follows –
| 2008 | 2007 | 2006 |
Chief Minister | 42 | 29 | 27 |
Economic Development | 35 | 27 | 25 |
Treasury and Resources | 34 | 28 | 34 |
Social Security | 28 | 16 | 17 |
Home Affairs | 23 | 18 | 12 |
Transport and Technical Services | 23 | 14 | 21 |
Housing | 22 | 21 | 10 |
Planning and Environment | 19 | 16 | 13 |
Health and Social Services | 18 | 11 | 14 |
Education, Sport and Culture | 14 | 17 | 16 |
Privileges and Procedures | 11 | 3 | 4 |
Comité des Connétable s | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Environment Scrutiny Panel | 2 | 3 | 0 |
HM Attorney General | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Public Accounts Committee | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Education and Home Affairs Scr. Panel | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Health, Soc. Sec. and Housing Scr. Panel | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Commonwealth Parliamentary Assoc. | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Chairmen's Committee | 0 | 0 | 1 |
TOTAL | 280 | 209 | 197 |
The breakdown of Ministers/Committees answering the oral questions with notice was as follows –
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | ||||
Transport and Technical Services | 28 | 19 | 34 | |||
Home Affairs | 27 | 24 | 25 | |||
Social Security | 24 | 8 | 14 | |||
Treasury and Resources | 22 | 34 | 28 | |||
Chief Minister | 21 | 39 | 33 | |||
Planning and Environment | 17 | 19 | 15 | |||
Health and Social Services | 16 | 21 | 14 | |||
Education, Sport and Culture | 16 | 12 | 27 |
Economic Development | 13 | 40 | 32 |
Housing | 10 | 17 | 6 |
Privileges and Procedures Committee | 3 | 6 | 2 |
H.M. Attorney General | 3 | 2 | 0 |
Comité des Connétable s | 1 | 2 | 5 |
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Environment Scrutiny Panel | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Chairmen's Committee | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Total | 202 | 248 | 235 |
2009 figures
The breakdown of Ministers, Panels, Committees and others answering the written questions was as follows –
| 2009 |
Treasury and Resources | 65 |
Chief Minister | 61 |
Transport and Technical Services | 50 |
Social Security | 43 |
Health and Social Services | 42 |
Economic Development | 38 |
Education, Sport and Culture | 27 |
Planning and Environment | 26 |
Home Affairs | 22 |
Housing | 14 |
HM Attorney General | 13 |
Privileges and Procedures | 8 |
Comité des Connétable s | 7 |
Chairmen's Committee | 2 |
Health and Social Services and Housing Scrutiny Panel | 1 |
Environment Scrutiny Panel | 0 |
Public Accounts Committee | 0 |
Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel | 0 |
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association | 0 |
Total | 419 |
The breakdown of Ministers/Committees and others with official responsibility answering the oral questions with notice (including the six urgent questions) was as follows –
| 2009 |
Economic Development | 50 |
Chief Minister | 47 |
Treasury and Resources | 44 |
Home Affairs | 40 |
Health and Social Services | 36 |
Transport and Technical Services | 23 |
Education, Sport and Culture | 20 |
Planning and Environment | 17 |
Social Security | 17 |
Housing | 15 |
H.M. Attorney General | 13 |
Comité des Connétable s | 6 |
Privileges and Procedures | 6 |
Chairmen's Committee | 4 |
Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel | 1 |
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TOTAL | 339 |
2010 figures
2010 | ||
No. of written questions | 482 | |
No. of oral questions with notice answered (inc. urgent) | 338 | |