§ Mr. John Mooreasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether copies of the Defence White Paper, Command Paper No. 6432, were available to the media before 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday 17th March when they were available to hon. Members at the Vote Office; when they were available to the media; how many copies were issued; and to what media organisations they were issued.
§ Mr. MasonThe publication time of Command 6432 was 11 a.m. on 17th March 1976. Because of an industrial dispute at Her Majesty's Stationery Office, copies were not available in the Vote Office or to the public at that time. In accordance with long-standing practice, confidential final revises of the document subsequently published as Command 6432 were made available to the lobby and defence correspondents in advance of publication time.