§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many parliamentary questions, in the period November 1992 to March 1993, were answered with the response that the information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost; how many were referred on to an agency chief executive; and, in each case, what percentage of the total number of questions asked this constituted.
§ Mr. HeseltineAccording to the POLIS database, 14 parliamentary questions answered by Ministers in this Department in the period 1 November 1992 to 31 March 1993 were replied to in terms that the information was not held centrally or that the information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Fourteen questions were referred to agency chief executives during the same period. Both of these figures represent less than 1 per cent. of written answers given by my Department during the period.