asked the Secretary of State for Energy, further to his reply to the hon. Member for Surrey, North-West, Official Report, 6 November, c. 103, concerning purchasing contracts, what work is involved in obtaining the information required and why the cost of obtaining such information would therefore be disproportionate.

Being small, my Department does not have a central contracts organisation. Most contracts placed arise directly from my Department's work—particularly research and development—so to provide the information requested would necessitate a general scrutiny of contracts to identify those few which involve purchasing.It is this administrative effort which would incur the disproportionate cost referred to in the earlier reply to my hon. Friend.