To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how may copies of the annual departmental MINIS returns have been (a) purchased from and (b) distributed by his Department since the returns were first made public; when it was decided to discontinue the public release for sale of the MINIS 1996 returns; and what announcement was made on the discontinuation of the report's publication. [40478]
My Department does not have figures available for all the years since MINIS was first made public, but can provide figures for the last two years; these are in the table.
Minis 15 (1994–95)
| Minis 16 (1995–96)
| |||
Distributed 1
| Sold
| Distributed 1
| Sold
| |
| Cities and Countryside Group | 71 | 6 | 95 | 8 |
| Legal | 73 | 3 | 95 | 5 |
| Government Offices | 82 | 3 | 2— | 2— |
1 Distributed is the number of copies that were printed and issues within DOE, House of Lords, House of Commons, Environment Committee and other Government Departments. | ||||
2 In 1995–96 a separate MINIS exercise was undertaken by Government Offices and their MINIS plans were published in GO MINIS 1. | ||||
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State decided earlier in the year not to publish MINIS 17 documents formally since the costs of the exercise were not justified by the low volume of sales and the fact that the Department's new annual report now sets out the main achievements and forward expenditure plans of the constituent parts of the Department.
The decision not to publish MINIS documents formally was not announced as unbound copies are still available on request.