§ Mr. Menzies CampbellTo ask the Lord President of the Council what is the date of the expiry of the current contract to supply the House with stationery; when he intends to invite tenders for any subsequent contract; and whether it will be open to any company located in the United Kingdom to tender for that contract.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweThe HMSO is responsible for supplies of stationery to the House of Commons (Estimate Class XIX Vote 6). A contract for the supply of die-stamped stationery was awarded in May 1989 following competitive tendering. This is due to run for three years.
Invitations to tender for a replacement contract will be issued in late 1991, following advertising in the Official Journal of the European Communities, to all suppliers on HMSO's tender list, together with any acceptable firms who may respond to the notice in the Official Journal. Interested suppliers may request inclusion on HMSO's tender list at any time.
§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Lord President of the Council how much paper used by the House of Commons is(a) recycled and (b) virgin; and what are the comparative costs.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweI refer the hon. Member to my predecessor's reply to the hon. Member for Leicester, East (Mr. Vaz) of 4 April 1989, column69.
199WPapers used in the production of buff envelopes and file covers for HMSO are traditionally made from recycled papers and therefore a comparison with virgin papers is not possible. For general purpose printing papers the price of recycled qualities is similar to that for virgin papers. For higher quality writing papers savings of up to 10 per cent. may be obtainable.