§ Sir C. MacAndrewasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury why it is intended to alter the existing arrangements by which no Statutory Instrument, to which the provisions of Section 4 of the Act of 1946 apply, is sent to the Stationery Office for printing until it has in fact been presented to this House and has received from this House the date to be printed on the Instrument as the date of presentation; and if he is satisfied that there will be no risk of Instruments being published with a statement that they have been laid on a certain date, when in fact they have been laid on a different date, or not at all.
§ Mr. Glenvil HallThe answer to the first part of the question is, that as the procedure for laying instruments in another place is now regulated by a Standing Order similar to that in force in this House and that as the date of laying before both Houses can now be forecast accurately it is proposed that the arrangements should be altered to eliminate as far as possible the delays which sometimes occurred between the laying of an instrument before this House and its availability to hon. Members in the Vote Office. By beginning the final printing of the Instrument in advance of the date of laying, the time between laying and publication will be reduced—in the case of long Orders and Schedules by several days The answer to the second part of the206W Question is that it is, of course, appreciated that the new arrangement will lay on Departments the absolute duty of ensuring that instruments are duly laid on the date named on the printed copies, but it is considered that the reduction of the time between laying and publication constitutes an overwhelming case for its adoption. The House can rest assured that all the Departments concerned will take the greatest care to ensure that statutory instruments are duly laid.