§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the average length of time taken and the average cost involved of officials' time in his Department preparing ministerial briefs for oral parliamentary questions.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe time taken in preparing ministerial briefs for oral parliamentary questions is not routinely recorded in the FCO. Details of the average cost involved throughout all Departments was given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Treasury in her answer to the hon. Member on 18 December at column112.
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what savings his Department would make were no notice given of oral questions to Ministers and they were answered without civil service time being used on briefings.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydNo savings would be made and costs would almost certainly increase significantly. If the oral question is known in advance briefing can be tightly focused, thus avoiding the cost of producing a detailed brief, covering all subjects that could possibly arise.