HC Deb 11 March 1997 vol 292 cc187-8W
Dr. David Clark

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the cost to his Department of producing the document, "British Defence Doctrine"; who will receive the receipts from the sale of the publication; what factors determined the pricing of the book; how many copies were produced; what is the role of the Royal United Services Institute in the publication; and if he will make a statement. [19628]

Mr. Soames

"British Defence Doctrine" was produced at a direct cost to my Department's budget of £134,801. This includes the cost of the dedicated team set up to write the document. A total of 35,000 copies of the book have been produced, 33,000 of which are for internal MOD use. The other 2,000 are for sale to the public. We have agreed with the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies that it will sell these additional copies through its existing book option scheme, its Whitehall series of publications and other marketing avenues. It is involved solely in the marketing of the book and has had no involvement with the editorial content. Receipts from those copies available for sale to the public will be split equally between my Department, to offset the cost of producing the additional copies for public sale, and the Royal United Services Institute, to offset its costs of marketing and selling the book. In determining the price for the book an assumption on likely sales was based on sales to date of "The Fundamentals of British Maritime Doctrine" and a price set that was assessed as being reasonable and in line with similar publications.