§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many official documents published by his Department, including those published in co-operation with outside organisations, were not made available to hon. Members through the Vote Office in each of the last three years; and for what reasons the document "British Defence Doctrine" was not made available. [19111]
§ Mr. SoamesDetails of all such documents are not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. It is not therefore possible to give a number not placed in the Vote Office. Copies of "British Defence Doctrine" were placed in the Libraries of both Houses— including some additional copies—and separate copies were sent to those right hon. and hon. Members believed to have a particular interest in the document. A small number of copies was provided to the Vote Office in response to requests from individual hon. Members.
The normal minimum number of copies of documents provided to the Vote Office is 100. Our decision whether or not to place this number of any document in the Vote Office depends on a number of factors, including the relevance to parliamentary proceedings, the likely level of interest and thus potential waste, and previous practice in relation to similar documents.