§ Mr. GrocottTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the average cost to his Department of answering(a) a written and (b) an oral parliamentary question.
§ Sir Paul BeresfordThe latest estimate of the costs of preparing answers to both written and oral questions was given in the reply by the then Financial Secretary to the Treasury, my right hon. Friend the Member for Loughborough (Mr. Dorrell) to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Hertfordshire, West (Mr. Jones) on 30 November 1993,Official Report, column 387.