Lord Campbell of Croyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they have in mind for the future of summer time.
The Minister of State, Home Office (Earl Ferrers)An order has been laid before Parliament to continue the present arrangements for 1989. Departments are being asked to consult interested groups on the merits of three options which emerged with the most support from a preliminary survey towards the end of last year. These are the continuation of the present position; the harmonisation of the date for ending summer time to bring it into line with the rest of the Community; or the introduction of Greenwich mean time plus one hour in the winter, with Greenwich mean time plus two hours from the end of March to the end of September. The last option would mean that the United Kingdom would be in the same time zone as most other EC countries throughout the whole year. Copies of the consultation document have today been placed in the Library of the House. After this consultation process has been completed, the Government will canvas public and parliamentary opinion more generally with a view to testing the degree of support for change.