HC Deb 08 August 1890 vol 348 cc263-4
MR. CRILLY

I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether, in view of the difficulty that is experienced by Members sometimes in following the answers to questions that are given from the Treasury Bench, and the necessity that sometimes exist for conveying the same evening to interested parties the substance of the reply given by the Government, he will make arrangements to have placed on the Table of the Library, or in some other convenient part of the House, Copies of Departmental replies, similar to those Copies now supplied to members of the Press?

MR. W. H. SMITH

I regret that hon. Members should find any difficulty in following answers given from this Bench, but, inasmuch as many of those answers are not written out, it would be impossible for me to undertake that written copies of them should be furnished for the use of hon. Members.

In answer to a further question by Mr. CRILLY,

MR. W. H. SMITH

said: It is not a fact that copies of all the answers are supplied to the Press. Some of the answers are not written at all. Certainly one-half of the questions which are asked do not appear on the Paper, and the answers to them are neither written nor supplied to the Press.