§ Mr. McQuarrieasked the Lord Privy Seal why there is a considerable delay in the publication of the bound volumes of theOfficial Report; and when he anticipates that the issues will be brought up to date.
§ Mr. BiffenThe bound volume is published by HMSO and printed at HMSO Hansard Press, which also has responsibility for production of the daily part. While the House is sitting, priority is necessarily given to the latter.
At present the bound volume is published five to six months after the relevant daily part. Alternative methods are currently being considered which should lead to some improvement in the speed of production. However, because of the various stages involved (copy preparation, text amendment, indexing, printing and binding), bound volumes are never likely to be produced within four months of the date of publication of the daily part.