§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Prime Minister how much the difference was between sale receipts and production costs of the Government's Annual Reports in(a) 1997–98 and (b) 1998–99. [131045]
§ The Prime Minister[holding answer 17 July 2000]Under the arrangements entered into by the previous administration when The Stationery Office was privatised, receipts from the sales of Government publications do not usually accrue to the Government but to The Stationery Office: that has been the case with all three editions of the report. Under the same arrangements, production costs are divided between the Government and The Stationery Office.
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§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the cost to public funds of the Government's Annual Report 1999–2000; how many copies were printed; and how many copies he intends to give away free of charge. [131047]
§ The Prime Minister[holding answer 17 July 2000]The budget for the Government's Annual Report 1999–2000 was £165,000, compared to £180,000 in the previous year. 49,000 copies have been printed: 39,000 for retail sale and 10,000 for the Government (mainly for internal distribution without charge within the public sector).
§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Prime Minister what plans he has for a Government Annual Report next year. [131044]
§ The Prime Minister[holding answer 17 July 2000]Decisions will be announced in due course.
§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Prime Minister how many civil servants were involved in preparing the Government's Annual Report. [131043]
§ The Prime Minister[holding answer 17 July 2000]The report was prepared by one civil servant; other civil servants will have dealt with the Annual Report as part of their other duties.
§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Prime Minister what outlets received copies of the Annual Report in advance of publication; and what profits retailers make on the sale of each copy of the Annual Report. [131046]
§ The Prime Minister[holding answer 17 July 2000]This year's Government Annual Report was published in the same way as almost all Government priced publications. Copies were distributed in advance to the retailers under an embargo preventing further distribution or sale before the report was made available to Parliament.
The retailers included The Stationery Office and other bookstores as usual, plus Tesco and W H Smith. Profits made by the retailers are a matter for them.
§ Mr. RedwoodTo ask the Prime Minister when the section of the Docklands Light Railway shown on page 43 of the Government's Annual Report was brought into service. [131328]
§ The Prime Minister[holding answer 18 July 2000]The Docklands Light Railway opened in a series of sections between 1987 and 1999.
§ Mr. RedwoodTo ask the Prime Minister when the airline shown on page 43 of the Government's Annual Report commenced services at London City Airport. [131400]
§ The Prime Minister[holding answer 18 July 2000]CityJet started flights from London City Airport to Dublin in January 1994. Since September 1999, the route has been operated by British European Airways using aircraft leased from CityJet.
§ Mr. RedwoodTo ask the Prime Minister when the sections of the Manchester Metrolink pictured on pages 30 and 31 of the Government's Annual Report were brought into service. [131327]
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§ The Prime Minister[holding answer 18 July 2000]As page 31 of the Annual Report says,
the new tram system operated by Metrolink was opened in 1992. The specific section shown is the partially-completed extension to Eccles via Salford Quays brought into operation in December 1999.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Prime Minister what the basis was of the statement on page 15 of the Government's Annual Report concerning the impact of the Agenda 2000 reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy on the price of an average four person family's food bills. [131368]
§ The Prime Minister[holding answer 18 July 2000]The statement is based on an assessment of likely benefits to UK consumers from the implementation of the cuts in support prices reached at the Berlin Council, of £1 billion810W a year or 2 per cent. of the retail food price index or 0.25 per cent. of the all items retail price index. The statement in the report contains a drafting error; it should read "annual" instead of "monthly" and "£65" instead of "£50".