§ Mr. Porterasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many official forms are issued by his Department; and how this compares with 1979.
§ Sir Keith JosephThe total number of forms issued by the Department to the public and to businesses is not recorded.
The Department currently has about 450 different types of administrative forms which are for use by the public or by businesses; corresponding figures for 1979 are not available. However, in the first year following the publication of "Administrative Forms in Government" (Cmnd. 8504) in February 1982, 144 such forms were reviewed of which 14 were abolished. The review of forms is continuing and figures relating to progress from February this year to April 1984 should be available in May next year.