§ Dr. Mawhinneyasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many circulars and other forms of general guidance his Department issued during the months January to April in 1978, 1979 and 1980.
Mr. HeseUineMy Department's circulars and guidance notes are for the most part addressed to English local authorities.
For published circulars to local authorities the figures are 33, 15 and 9 respectively. Figures for other kinds of material (unpublished circular letters, guidance notes, etc) are not readily available for January to April 1978 and 1979, but only 17 communications in this category were issued during January to April 571W 1980; over the full 12 months to end-April 1980, 46 such messages were issued compared with 158 in the previous 12 months.