HC Deb 23 April 1975 vol 890 cc1663-5
The Deputy Chairman

The Question is, That the clause—

Mr. Emery

rose—

The Deputy Chairman

I hope that the hon. Member for Honiton (Mr. Emery) is not exhausting himself.

Mr. Emery

I hope, Sir Myer, that you will have given notice to your replacement, at whatever time he takes over—

The Deputy Chairman

He will have fortified himself.

Mr. Emery

I hope so, because I shall be here at that time, too.

I should like to know how the administrative expenses incurred by a Minister will be dealt with. Will these expenses be published? How will the House be able to refer to this expenditure and at what time immediately after the referendum will the House be able to have these details?

Mr. Edward Short

Perhaps I can answer those questions and reply to a point that the hon. Member for Honiton (Mr. Emery) made earlier. All expenditure connected with the referendum was authorised by the House when it approved the Money Resolution after Second Reading. This includes the cost of the popular version of the White Paper and the two umbrella organisations' pamphlets. If necessary, Supplementary Estimates will be presented in the usual way, and meanwhile the Civil Contingencies Fund is being used.

Mr. Emery

The figures in the preamble of the Bill of the estimated financial cost of £9 million were prepared some time ago. Since then there has been a wage award in the printing industry, and since a large proportion of the costs relate to printing I should like to know whether that figure still stands or whether it will be exceeded. If the latter is to be the case I urge the Leader of the House to take all possible steps to hold to the figure of £9 million and not have to provide a supplementary estimate.

Mr. Short

We shall try to hold the costs as much as we can, but some costs cannot be held. This exercise has not been carried out before. The cost has now risen to between £9 million and £10 million, which is rather more than the original estimate.

Mr. David Steel

May I repeat the question I put earlier, to which I did not get an answer? What is the cost of the Earls Court exercise?

Mr. Short

The central count will cost in the region of £1 million.

Question put, That the clause stand part of the Bill, put and agreed to.

Clause 5 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 6 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

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