§ 42. Mr. Englishasked the Lord President of the Council whether he is satisfied with the facilities available to Members for obtaining translations of documents; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WhitelawThere are no specialist staff of the House engaged on translation, and I am not satisfied that the expense involved would be justified by the amount of work which would be demanded.
§ Mr. EnglishIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Foreign Office does not translate European Economic Community documents, other than the regulations, in their Gazette? Is he further aware that a document as important as 1234 the Werner Report has not been translated either by the E.E.C. or by the Foreign Office? Would he kindly explain why my first Question on the subject was transferred to the Foreign Office, which does not itself do the job?
§ Mr. WhitelawI understand that the Library is able to obtain from Government Departments translations for Members. If I am wrong I shall be pleased to look into the point, but that is what I am informed. It is the reason that the Question was transferred.