§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his Department's spending on official publications was for(a) 1996–97, (b) 1997–98, (c) 1998–99, (d) 1999–2000 and (e) 2000–01; and what the planned expenditure was for 2001–02. [141444]
§ Mr. MandelsonThe account code structure of the Northern Ireland Office does not allow for production costs of official publications to be separated from the normal costs of office expenditure, such as general printing and the purchasing of non-departmental publications.
This information could be provided only by a manual exercise at disproportionate cost.