INTRODUCTION

The Sessional Information Digest has been published for each parliamentary session since 1983-84, and from 1985-86 published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, now The Stationery Office. Subscribers to the Weekly Information Bulletin automatically receive copies, the price being covered by the annual subscription.

Although the Sessional Information Digest is in some ways a cumulation of material from the Weekly Information Bulletin, it is recommended that users retain their Bulletin files, as full bibliographical details are not given here, in order to save space. In this respect, the Digest forms an index and companion to the Bulletin, as well as providing information unavailable elsewhere.

Both the Bulletin and Digest can be found on the Internet via links from Parliament's home page. The address is: http://www.parliament.uk

The Standing Order numbers cited in this edition of the Digest are those in use during the 1992-97 Parliament. Readers might like to note that at the start of the 1997 Parliament the Standing Orders were revised and renumbered, for details see HC 400 1996/97 available from The Stationery Office.

I am indebted to Mary Walsh and Ronnie Jefferson for typesetting this Digest, to the Journal Office for providing certain unpublished data for Section A, and to Fiona Ward, Antoinette Creevy and Tracy Herd who have helped in the compilation of this Digest.

				Bronwen Rowlands
				June 1997