§ Mr. SalmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many copies of "Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland 1993–94" were(a) produced and (b) distributed free of charge; what were the costs of the (i) design and (ii) printing and publishing of the document, what were the costs of producing the document in terms of staff research costs; what were the costs of (1) the launch and (2) publicity; and if he will make a statement. [41067]
Lord James Douglas HamiltonThe Scottish Office produced 5,000 copies of the publication "Government Expenditure and Revenues in Scotland 1993–94"-GERS—of which approximately 2,250 were distributed free of charge, excluding postage which the recipients had to pay. The cost of design, printing and publishing the document was £6,326.34 while the cost of the launch and publicity was £290.23. The cost of research staff time is unknown; the research for the document formed part of the normal duties of Government economists and statisticians.
The GERS publication is intended to provide a strictly factual contribution to the public understanding of budgetary issues in Scotland. In future, GERS will be 1140W updated annually to a pre-announced publication schedule. As has already been announced, the next edition covering the fiscal year 1994–95 will be published on Monday 21 October 1996.