asked the Minister for the Civil Service whether, since it is the practice of HMSO not to reprint statutes for which there appears to be little demand, he will direct it to keep a record of each request for any statute which is out of print.

No. Each year HMSO services almost 2 million firm orders and deals with about 300,000 telephone inquiries as well as innumerable oral requests from personal callers at its seven retail bookshops. To record each request for an out-of-print statute would be difficult and costly, but orders placed for photocopies are and will continue to be recorded.

asked the Minister for the Civil Service what is the extent of the duty imposed on HMSO to keep, for sale to the public, copies of current treaties, public and private Acts of Parliament, statutory instruments, command papers and other Government publications.

HMSO is under no statutory duty to maintain stocks of Government publications for sale. In practice, publications are kept on sale as long as there is any significant demand for them.