Question

To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, from which countries the House of Commons sources the paper for its (a) official headed stationery and (b) other printed parliamentary materials.

Official headed stationery is sourced from the following locations:

• for letterheaded paper, the Papago cream paper is sourced from France and the Conqueror cream wove paper is sourced from Italy.
• paper for manilla envelopes is sourced and manufactured in Germany.
• plastic for the poly mailers is sourced and manufactured in Poland.
• cream paper for the standard envelopes is sourced from Sweden.
• white paper for the white envelopes is sourced and manufactured in Poland.

All overprinting of paper envelopes is carried out in the UK, including embossing and phosphor band print. Overprinting of letterheaded paper is carried out in the UK.

Business papers (the Order Paper, bills etc) are printed on paper which has been manufactured in Germany and France. These are bought through a UK-based paper merchant.

Under current legislation and guidance, specifying the origin of goods or services is only permitted if it is necessary to do so in order for our requirements to be understood. The legislation expressly provides that any requirement specifying the origin must allow for equivalents where these exist. Parliament endeavours to purchase British goods and support domestic supply chains where it is possible and appropriate to do so.