§ Mr. SteinbergTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if, for each of the last three White Papers issued by his Department, for which legislation has been started, he will state the time elapsed between their publication and the First Readings of any Bills connected with them; and if he will do the same for the last three White Papers issued by his Department prior to 1979.
§ Mr. ChannonThe last three White Papers published by my Department, in which legislation was proposed and has been subsequently started or completed, were: Airports Policy (Cmnd. 9542), Channel Fixed Link (Cmnd. 9735) and Merchant Shipping (Cmnd. 239). These were published on 5 June 1985, 4 February 1986 and 2 November 1987 respectively and the First Readings of the Airports, Channel Tunnel and Merchant Shipping Bills resulting from them took place on 16 January 1986, 17 April 1986 and 18 January 1988. It is not for me to answer for the record of the last Government in this matter, but the information requested should be available in the Library of the House and theOfficial Report.