To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table showing the price charged for the daily Official Report of parliamentary debates in 1970, 1974, 1979, 1983, 1987 and 1992, and with a constant price index where 1970 = 100.

[holding answer 10 February 1992]: The information requested is as follows:

Year	Actual Price in February	Price Expressed in 1970 terms
1970	2s 3d	2s 3d
1974	20p	14p
1979	40p	14p
1983	£1·00	22p
1987	£2·95	53p
1992	£7·50	£1·04

For many years the prices of parliamentary debates were heavily subsidised. In 1983, when the annual subsidy stood at £6 million, the Government decided progressively to reduce the level of subsidy required, by a combination

of price increases and improved methods of production. I was able to announce last November that the latest price increases, together with plans to enable the reports of proceedings to be "machine-read" by the HMSO presses, should permit the final elimination of the revenue subsidy—1 November 1991,