asked the Secretary of State for the Environment why all the one-inch ordnance survey maps have been withdrawn from sale in central and southern England; and what has happened to the stock return by the retailers.

A new map series at 1:50,000 scale is replacing the Ordnance Survey one-inch map. Sheets of the new series covering the southern part of Great Britain were published in March 1974. Retailers were, however, free to dispose of stocks of the corresponding one-inch sheets and no stocks were returned to the Ordnance Survey.