HC Deb 19 February 1996 vol 272 cc4-5W
Mr. Heppell

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what(a) plans and (b) facilities Her Majesty's Stationery Office has to provide (i) Acts of Parliament, (ii) codes of practice and (iii) other documentation in (1) European Community languages, (2) Braille, (3) large print and (4) audio tape. [14483]

Mr. Willetts

As this is a purely operational matter, I have asked the chief executive of HMSO to reply directly to the hon. Member.

Letter front Mike Lynn to Mr. John Heppell, dated 9 February 1996: I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question (No 166) to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster about provision of HMSO publication in other languages and formats. We have no firm plans in any of the specific areas you list, but we certainly have the capability to produce publications in these forms if there is sufficient market demand to make it a viable proposition. We have previously examined the prospects for Braille publications in consultation with the Royal National Institute for the Blind, but reached the conclusion that the costs we unlikely to be recovered from the predicted level of sales. We have, however, recently agreed a new copyright licence with RNIB, which covers all Crown and Parliamentary copyright texts for which we are responsible for reproduction in Braille, Moon, Audio tape and Braille-coded floppy disk formats. This licence is issued free of charge.

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