§ Mr. Ronald Bellasked the Lord President of the Council what has been the growth in numbers of parliamentary Questions tabled for oral or Written Answer compared with two, five, 10 and 20 years ago.
§ Mr. FootThe information is as follows:
1974–75 … … … 36,652 1971–72 … … … 28,946 1966–67 … … … 34,616 1956–57 … … … 12,056
§ Mr. Ronald Bellasked the Lord President of the Council (1) what proportion of the cost of answering parliamentary Questions would be saved if the numbers answered orally and in writing were halved in each case;
(2) what was the number of parliamentary Questions answered orally and what was the number answered in writing in the last Session of Parliament; and what was the estimated total cost of printing and answering them in each case.
§ Mr. FootI regret that the information is not available in the form requested since the total cost in Session 1975–76 of printing and answering parliamentary Questions is not known. However, the estimated average cost of answering oral and written parliamentary Questions based on the updated results of the last sample survey undertaken is, as my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Civil Service Department told my hon. Friend the Member for Loughborough (Mr. Cronin) on Thursday, 7th July, £30 and £18 respectively.
In the Session 1975–76, 3,199 oral and 39,121 Written parliamentary Questions were answered.