§ Mr. Cookasked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what was the annual public expenditure on library services for the financial years 1978–79 and 1979–80, and the estimates for 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83 and 1983–84, at 1978–79 prices.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasIn respect of services for which I have a responsibility, expenditure in 1978–79 and 1979–80 was as follows:
National Graphical Association in pursuit of its pay claim with the British Printing Industries Federation occurred during the months of April, May and June in 1980. With the number of contractors involved and as a considerable number of the parliamentary papers are subject to individual negotiation on time scales, it would not be practicable to identify the number of occasions on which parliamentary papers were directly affected by this.
The major overnight items were significantly delayed on four occasions because of industrial action during 1980. On the nights of 27 March and 22 April, Lords Hansard was not produced to time at the commercial contractors. On the nights of 14 March and 13 May the Vote bundle, Lords Minute and Commons Hansard were not produced to time at St. Stephen's parliamentary press. On these occasions the House authorities arranged for photocopies of the relevant papers to be produced for House purposes. The papers were subsequently published.
The short time scales required for the publishing of most parliamentary papers would preclude the use of printers outside the United Kingdom.