HL Deb 07 March 1991 vol 526 cc81-2WA
Lord Brougham and Vaux

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they have reviewed the arrangements by which copies of reports produced by the Water Research Centre for the Department of the Environment are placed in the Library.

Baroness Blatch

In an answer given to the honourable Member for Woolwich on 16th February 1984, an undertaking was given to place copies of reports of studies commissioned by the department from the Water Research Centre (WRC) in the Library of the House. The usefulness of this arrangement was to be reviewed.

A review rather later than envisaged discloses that there does not seem to be sufficient interest shown in the WRC's reports to warrant the continuation of this special arrangement. In addition, WRC has since become a private company and it would not be equitable for their reports to be treated differently from those of their competitors.

For these reasons, we propose to terminate this arrangement and my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State the Member for Banbury has today written to the honourable member accordingly.