HC Deb 03 May 2001 vol 367 c794W
Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the President of the Council how many applicants for a people's peerage are being recommended for appointment; and if she will make a statement. [159381]

Mrs. Beckett

Fifteen.

Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the President of the Council, pursuant to her answer of 16 March 2001,Official Report, column 764W, on people's peerages, what estimate she has made of the cost of providing the answer sought. [159421]

Mrs. Beckett

That it was likely to be in excess of the guidelines figure beyond which an answer stands to be refused. My hon. Friend will also recall from the second part of the answer that to release the information requested would have been in breach of the Appointments Commission's undertakings to treat all personal information in individual applications in strict confidence.