With characteristic disregard for parliament, hundreds of PQs have been binned under new procedures. Previously ministers wrote to MPs even if they failed to answer their questions before parliament was prorogued, as it was last Thursday. Now the questions are binned.

The worst performers were ministerial teams led by Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary; Patricia Hewitt, the trade secretary; Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, and Paul Murphy, the Northern Ireland secretary. The Treasury, Foreign Office and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have a handful of unanswered questions between them.