Leader of the House of Lords written question – answered at on 14 November 2025.
Lord Roberts of Llandudno
Liberal Democrat
To ask the Leader of the House what monitoring process is in place to ensure that responses to Written Questions answer the question that has been asked.
Baroness Smith of Basildon
Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
As Leader I regularly remind Ministers of the importance of timely and accurate answers to written questions. I have met the working group of departmental Parliamentary Clerks and am scheduled to meet separately Permanent Secretaries next week to stress the importance of written questions and the need for those to be answered on time. Alongside this my office routinely contacts departments who have breached the 10 working day target.
Yes2 people think so
No2 people think not
Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.
The house of Lords is the upper chamber of the Houses of Parliament. It is filled with Lords (I.E. Lords, Dukes, Baron/esses, Earls, Marquis/esses, Viscounts, Count/esses, etc.) The Lords consider proposals from the EU or from the commons. They can then reject a bill, accept it, or make amendments. If a bill is rejected, the commons can send it back to the lords for re-discussion. The Lords cannot stop a bill for longer than one parliamentary session. If a bill is accepted, it is forwarded to the Queen, who will then sign it and make it law. If a bill is amended, the amended bill is sent back to the House of Commons for discussion.
The Lords are not elected; they are appointed. Lords can take a "whip", that is to say, they can choose a party to represent. Currently, most Peers are Conservative.
