Written parliamentary questions from MPs: Recent trends
MPs can submit questions to government departments to scrutinise their work. The number of questions submitted by MPs increased by 93% between 2024 and 2025.
This briefing discusses recent trends in the number of written parliamentary questions (WPQs) submitted by MPs.
Please note: although members of the House of Lords can also submit WPQs, Lords WPQs are not included in the data which follows.
What are written parliamentary questions?
Written parliamentary questions are parliamentary questions that are put to government ministers in writing by MPs or Members of the Lords and that receive a written answer. These questions and answers are published online.
What are the different kinds of written parliamentary questions?
There are two different kinds of WPQs1:
- named day questions, where MPs can set the day on which they expect a response
- ordinary questions, where MPs cannot set the day on which they expect a response
MPs can ask up to five named day questions daily; there is no limit on the number of ordinary questions that MPs can ask.
The proportion of WPQs that are ordinary questions has increased in recent years, from 58% in 2018 to 81% in 2025. This is shown in more detail in the chart below.
Source: Parliamentary search.
Which departments are asked WPQs?
The department asked the most WPQs by MPs in 2025 was the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). It was asked around 16% of all WPQs. A full breakdown by department is provided in the chart below.
Source: Parliamentary search. Note: ‘Other bodies’ includes all organisations asked fewer than 100 WPQs in any single month.
How has the number of WPQs changed in recent years?
The total number of WPQs submitted by MPs increased by 35% between 2019 and 2020. This may have been linked to the December 2019 general election and the covid-19 pandemic. The number of WPQs was then relatively stable between 2020 and 2022, before decreasing in 2023 and 2024. The number has increased since the July 2024 general election. In 2025, there were 80,810 WPQs tabled. This was almost double the number in 2024, when there were 41,906 WPQs tabled (an increase of 93%.) A more detailed breakdown is available in the chart below.
There has also been some seasonality in WPQs being tabled. In 2024 and 2025, WPQs were less common during the summer than at other times of the year. This may be linked to Parliament’s summer recess in 2025 and the dissolution of Parliament for the general election in 2024. This trend is also shown in the chart below.
Source: Parliamentary search. Note: the general election meant no WPQs could be tabled between 30 May 2024 and 4 July 2024.
While all larger departments have recently received an increased number of WPQs, the scale of increase has varied. For example, the Department for Transport experienced a 112% increase in WPQs from MPs between 2024 and 2025. This compares with a 58% increase experienced by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. A full breakdown is available in the chart below.
Source: Parliamentary search. Note: the dissolution of Parliament for the 2024 general election meant that WPQs could not be submitted between 30 May 2024 and 4 July 2024.
Month-to-month fluctuations in the number of WPQs
The number of WPQs that MPs submit to large government departments can vary month-to-month. For example, the Ministry of Defence received an average of 493 WPQs each month in 2025. However, this ranged from as few as 226 in January 2025 to as many as 963 in March 2025.
Smaller government departments also experience variations in the number of WPQs they receive each month. For example, the Scotland Office received around 14 WPQs on average each month between 2018 and 2025. However, in January 2025, the Scotland Office received 73 WPQs. These large fluctuations can be significant for small governmental departments or bodies, which may need to reprioritise the workloads of their relatively small staff to answer them.
Data on the number of WPQs received monthly by each department is available in the attached file.
48 MPs submitted more than half of all WPQs in 2025
552 different MPs submitted WPQs in 2025. The number of questions submitted by each MP varied greatly: while 41 MPs submitted fewer than five WPQs each in 2025, 15 MPs submitted more than 1,000 WPQs each. One MP submitted 3,013 WPQs, representing 3.7% of the total number of WPQs submitted in 2025. Collectively, four MPs submitted more than 10% of all WPQs between them, and 48 MPs submitted more than half of all WPQs between them. A full breakdown of WPQs by MP is available in the attached file.
Please note that, by convention, government ministers do not submit WPQs. Opposition spokespersons, whips, and the Speaker and deputy speakers may also be less likely to submit WPQs due to the specific responsibilities of their roles. As a result, most of the MPs who occupied one or more of these roles in 2025 do not appear in the list of WPQs by member in the attached file.
Source: Parliamentary search.
How much does it cost to answer written parliamentary questions?
An up-to-date estimate of the average cost of a WPQ is not available, though departments are allowed to refuse WPQs if the expected cost of answering a single question exceeds £850. In 2012, the cost was estimated to be £164 per question (this is equivalent to £237 in 2025/26 prices). However, as this estimate is from over a decade ago, it should be treated with caution.
How long does it take for written parliamentary questions to be answered?
Most WPQs are answered within 10 working days of being tabled. Ordinary WPQs typically take between 6 and 10 working days to be answered, while named day questions are often answered in five or fewer days. The chart below shows this in more detail.
Source: Parliamentary search.
Notes
When compiling this data, the following public bodies were grouped together:
- “Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office”, “Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster”, and “Cabinet Office”
- “Foreign and Commonwealth Office”, “Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office”, and “Department for International Development”
- “Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government” and “Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities”
- “Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport” and “Department for Culture, Media and Sport”
All data included has been sourced from Parliamentary search. This data includes written parliamentary questions from MPs only, and not from members of the House of Lords.
Footnotes- 1 On 12 May 2026 we edited this section to correct an error. Previously, named day and ordinary written parliamentary questions were incorrectly labelled.