§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to their Answer of 7 December 1994 (H.L. col. WA89), whether they will make their Fourth Periodic Report to the Human Rights Committee under Article 40 to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights more widely available to members of the public by placing it in all public libraries and by informing non-governmental organisations, the editors of national and regional newspapers, and the editors of legal periodicals, that the report can be obtained without charge from the Home Office publications unit.
§ Baroness BlatchNo; the steps we have already taken to make the report freely available are, we believe, sufficient and proportionate. On 8 October, the day following the submission of the report to the United Nations, we sent copies of it to those non-governmental organisations with a particular, established interest in the report; a number of newspaper editors have already requested, and been sent, copies; and, as I explained in my reply on 7 December to an earlier Question from the noble Lord, the report is freely available from the Home Office publications unit, and in the British Library and the other legal deposit libraries.