HL Deb 11 February 1988 vol 493 cc394-5WA
Lord Hylton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will ensure that all government departments follow the example of the Department of the Environment in using recycled fibre for official correspondence and other purposes.

Lord Young of Graffham

My Lords, I take the question to refer to paper. The policy of Her Majesty's Stationery Office, which provide most of the stationery requirements of government departments, is to include recycled material in the papers which they supply where to do so meets economic, archival and quality requirements. But I believe that individual government departments should continue to determine their own requirements in this context, in the interests of maximising value for money, taking account inter alia of the fact that the cost of recycled papers can exceed that of papers made from virgin fibre.