asked the Secretary of State for Employment, further to his reply on purchasing contracts to the hon. Member for Surrey, North-West [Official Report 6 November, c. 129.]—what work is involved in obtaining the information required and why the cost of obtaining such information would therefore be disproportionate.

To collect the information necessary to answer the question would first involve the identification from financial accounts of a substantial number of payments made in respect of purchasing contracts, and then a reference for each to contract files to determine whether they were awarded by (a) selective tender (b) open tender or (c) single tender. This activity would be necessary in each of the four constituent members of the Department of Employment group and in the case of the Manpower Services Commission and the Health and Safety Commission would need to be repeated in sub-organisations. The cost of collecting this information would far exceed an acceptable level of expense.