asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Depart- ment if new arrangements are being made whereby forms of Parliamentary elections, which have hitherto been supplied by printers in different parts of the country, are now to be supplied by the Stationery Office without charge to the registration officer; and whether, seeing that this change is likely to involve more work upon the registration officers and likely to lead to confusion in the event of an early General Election, he will have an inquiry instituted into this matter?

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether it has been decided to print in bulk all forms for use in connection with future. Parliamentary elections; and whether, seeing. that the extra cost involved in additional clerical labour, handling, and carriage will outweigh any saving to be effected by mass production, and that the cost of printing the forms in the provinces will be substantially less than if printed in London, he will have the question reconsidered?

asked the Minister of Health whether the Government has decided to print all forms in connection with future Parliamentary elections in bulk; and, if so, what is the reason for this decision?

Mr. DAVIES:

It has hitherto been the practice of most Acting Returning Officers to procure nearly all their forms from a few publishing firms, and only to print locally a limited number of forms. The arrangement made, after consultation with the Treasury and the Stationery Office, and after ascertaining the views of the Acting Returning Officers, is to have the first class of forms printed by the Stationery Office, leaving the second class to be printed locally. It has been settled at a conference with representative Acting Returning Officers and the agents of the chief political organisations which forms shall be included in each class. After making allowance for the cost of handling and carriage, very considerable economy is anticipated from the adoption of this arrangement, which has been in force in Scotland since 1918. I am informed that the great Majority of Acting Returning Officers regard the change with favour, and I see no reason to anticipate that it will cause any difficulty or confusion at elections.

Has the hon. Gentleman formed any estimate of the saving likely to be effected by this change?

Mr. DAVIES:

I am quite prepared to go into that if a question is put down.

Does the hon. Gentleman propose to compensate printers who hold stocks of these forms for supply to the authorities when the Stationery Office is not prepared to do so?

Mr. DAVIES:

That point is one which I shall take into consideration.

Were these forms put up to tender locally?

Has the hon. Gentleman taken into consideration the effect that this decision will have upon local employment in the printing trade?

Mr. DAVIES:

All the facts have been considered.