§ Mr. Dickensasked the Lord Privy Seal if he will give his latest estimate of the cost of (a) answering an oral question, (b) answering a written question, (c) printing all questions on the Order Paper and Notice Paper in the 1985–86 Session and (d) printing all answers in the Official Report in the 1985–86 Session.
§ Mr. BiffenThe costs in officials' time of replying to questions vary considerably, but the current average cost is estimated at(a) £75 for oral answers and (b) £45 for written answers.(c) During the 1985–86 Session the cost of printing all oral and written questions on the Order Paper and Notice Paper was £842,000, (d) the cost of printing all written answers in the daily Official Report in the 1985–86 Session was £430,000. The cost of printing all oral answers could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.