Robert Abela and his 18 ministers have not yet replied to 750 parliamentary questions since the election last year, figures tabled in parliament on Monday revealed.

The biggest culprit is Clifton Grima's Ministry for Education, Sports, Youth, Research and Innovation, which is responsible for almost a quarter of all unanswered PQs.

Behind him are Clayton Bartolo's ministry, with 77 unanswered PQs, and Anton Refalo's and Aaron Farrugia's ministries, each with 67 unanswered questions. 

Most responsive

The most responsive, on the other hand, were Julia Farrugia Portelli's Ministry for Inclusion, Voluntary Organisations, and Consumer Rights and Jo Etienne Abela's Ministry for Active Ageing - both failing to answer just 10 questions each.

In some cases, ministers only answered to say that the information was still being gathered or that a reply would be given on another day.

Speaker Anġlu Farrugia revealed the figures in a reply to a parliamentary question by PN MP Chris Said.

PQs are directed to ministers, who are also responsible for providing replies.

But PQs also sometimes concern issues pertaining to parliamentary secretariats within ministries.

Malta has six parliamentary secretaries who also form part of the cabinet - Andy Ellul within the Office of the Prime Minister, Alison Zerafa Civelli within Owen Bonnici's ministry, Alicia Bugeja Said within Anton Refalo's ministry, Chris Bonett within Silvio Schembri's ministry, Rebecca Buttigieg within Byron Camilleri's ministry and Keith Azzopardi Tanti within Clifton Grima's ministry.

MPs are allowed to submit written or oral PQs requesting information on all sorts of issues, projects and works within the government's ministries.