§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Lord President of the Council how many(a) oral and (b) written questions have been tabled during the present Parliament; and what is his estimated total cost of the replies.
§ Mr. NewtonIn the current Parliament up to and including Friday 15 July, 11,153 oral and 92,414 written questions have appeared on the Order Paper. These figures do not include questions for oral answer which were unsuccessful in the shuffle or questions which were withdrawn before the day on which they were to be asked. Using the latest estimated costs of £225 for answering an oral question and £97 for answering a written one—Official Report, 30 November 1993, column 387,—the total cost of answering these questions is estimated at £11,473,583. These costs do not include printing and publishing costs or the work of the Table Office in processing the questions.