Government Transparency and Accountability 2025-11-27

Opened the debate

I hope I speak for everyone in the House when I say that it is a special privilege to be elected to represent our constituents. The British people put their trust in each and every one of us to be their voice in this place. Our nation prides itself on a strong democracy, and the role of His Majesty’s loyal Opposition is critical to that. Government opaqueness is not conducive to such accountability... [The speech continues with detailed descriptions of issues related to lack of transparency, including specific examples like correspondence regarding national insurance and air ambulances, broadband speed in villages, bioethanol industry concerns, and the RSV vaccine programme.]

Government Response

Thank you, Dr Johnson, for raising these issues. The Government recognises the importance of transparency and accountability and acknowledges that delays in responding to correspondence from Members of Parliament are unacceptable... [The minister's response continues with detailed information on steps taken to address delays, including new measures to ensure timely responses and better communication channels between MPs and government departments.] I thank the hon. Member for bringing forward this debate... This Government have delivered on a manifesto commitment to establish an ethics and integrity commission, which will help drive up progress on standards... I hope that answers the hon. Lady’s point. Returning to other actions—The Government have taken action to improve openness and transparency... The Government are also engaging in the ongoing parliamentary inquiry, requested by Mr Speaker, on ministerial statements and the ministerial code. The Government are determined to ensure that when we have public inquiries, they lead to meaningful change, accountability and justice. For example, we are carefully considering the latest report from the covid-19 inquiry, and will respond fully in due course. To further drive accountability and implementation, the Government have launched a publicly accessible list on gov.uk of all recommendations made by inquiries, and the progress that the Government are making in response. As I said, the Government do take transparency and accountability extremely seriously. We are, as with so many other things—from the economy to prisons and the immigration system—having to rebuild faith and trust in our politics from the very low base that we inherited. The hon. Lady made some good points about responses to PQs and letters, on which I will follow up, but the Government are making progress and are committed to going further. I welcome the debate, and the opportunity to discuss this tonight.