The phrase "answer to the former" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when referring back to a previous statement or question, indicating that you are providing a response to something mentioned earlier.
Example: "In response to your earlier question, my answer to the former is that we should proceed with the project as planned."
Alternatives: "response to the previous" or "reply to the earlier".
Clearly the answer to the former question is yes.
Mr. Christian found the answer to the former question when he discovered the All Stars Project.
Through Week 4, the answer to the former question is a resounding yes.
Well, the short answer to the former question is an Audi Q7 MLB-Evo platform-based super-SUV with a not-quite-three-metre wheelbase, a two-and-a-half-tonne kerbweight and a rock-solid W12 engine.
We should rather keep these questions separate, and take care not to prejudge the latter by giving a wrong answer to the former.
That's not what I want to write about here because 1) I don't have an easy answer to the former, and 2) in our experience starting CloudFlare I haven't seen evidence of the latter.
Answers to the former are more likely to be subject to response shift since they involve traditional trade-offs.
Yes-or-no answers to the former question resulted in the "perception of health" variable, whereas yes-or-no answers to the latter question resulted in the "perception of disability" variable.
However comprehensive it is, no plan for a just war or humanitarian intervention has an answer to the sixth-former holding a 'bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity' placard: it can't survive the transition into a black and white, all war is bad mentality.
Ferragamo, of the eponymous Italian footware and fashion dynasty, is sailing's answer to Victor Kiam, the former owner of the New England Patriots and Remington razors, who declared in advertisements that he liked the product so much he bought the company.
Current smokers were defined as giving a positive answer to the statement "I currently smoke," former smokers were defined as giving a positive answer to the statement "I don't smoke anymore," and never smokers were defined as giving a positive answer to the statement "I have never smoked".
