§ Mr. SimsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has any proposal to raise the advisory cost limit of £200 for answering parliamentary questions.
§ Mr. Peter BrookeYes. The advisory figure of £200 was introduced in 1982 as the level at which the likely cost of a full reply to a parliamentary question should be drawn to the attention of Ministers. This figure is now out of date. It is accordingly being raised as from today to £250.
This does not alter the discretion of individual Ministers to decide that a particular question should be answered partially or in full regardless of cost.