Ministerial Statements

Overview

Ministerial Statements are either delivered in writing, or orally in person by the relevant Government Minister, appearing at the Dispatch Box in the House of Commons

Oral statements are normally delivered first to the Commons at about 12.30pm.  After the Minister has read out his or her statement,  opposition spokespersons then make a short speech in response, to which the Minister then responds. Brief questions from other MPs on all sides of the Chamber are then taken to which the Minister again responds.  The whole process normally takes less than an hour.

Government statements are repeated to the Lords by a relevant Minister at a convenient time after that. The Minister reads out the text of the statement made to the Commons.

Written Ministerial Statements were introduced so as to reduce the incidences of planted written questions being released. Written ministerial statements are released by Ministers, at relatively short notice, normally when they want to make an announcement to the House but feel that its content does not warrant a full Oral statement.

Urgent Questions

An Urgent Notice Question, is when an important matter arises, which an individual Member of Parliament believes requires an immediate answer from a government Minister (normally on that day).   These applications for an Urgent Question need to be filed by 11.30am on Monday, 10am on Tuesday and Wednesday, 8.15am on Thursday, and 8.30am on Friday.  These applications are then reviewed by the Speaker of the House of Commons.

If the Speaker is satisfied that the question is urgent and of public importance it is then granted. Urgent Questions are asked straight after Question Time on Monday to Thursday, or at 11am on a sitting Friday and may be repeated in the House of Lords.
The relevant Government Minister has to come to the Chamber to explain what the Government is doing on the issue raised. The Minister will then usually take questions on the subject from MPs.
Their short notice nature means that Government Ministers often find Urgent Questions to be particularly disruptive to their normal work.   The former Commons Speaker John Bercow, marked a notable change in relation to Urgent Questions, by granting requests for them, on a far more regular basis.