Written question asked by Lynne Jones (Labour) on Tuesday, 27 October 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 29 October 2009. It was answered by Lord Beamish (Labour) on Thursday, 5 November 2009 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Members: Correspondence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reasons the letters sent to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak from (a) the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Veterans) dated (i) 7 October 2009, reference D/Min(Veterans)KJ MC04309/2009, (ii) 15 August 2009, reference D/Min(Veterans)KJ MC03750/2009 and (iii) 28 July 2009, reference D/Min(Veterans)KJ MC03332/2009 and (b) the Secretary of State, dated 26 February 2009, reference D/Min(AF)BA MC00669/2009 were printed on only one side of paper; if he will make it his Department's policy to use two-sided printing for its correspondence; and whether he has made an estimate of the potential savings in respect of paper use consequent on the implementation of such a policy.

Answer: It is MOD's aim to procure equipment, including printers, with sustainable development aims firmly in mind. The MOD is rolling out a single Defence-wide information technology infrastructure called the Defence Information Infrastructure (DII) to some 2,000 sites worldwide. As DII rolls out, it is providing printers that automatically facilitate two-sided printing by default. This encourages two-sided printing at all times when appropriate, and reduces the amount of paper used. However, there are of course occasions when two-sided printing is not appropriate for the task.On the issue of ministerial correspondence, I have considered the possibility of using two-sided printing, and have concluded that in this particular process, the probability of more wastage is likely to outweigh the benefit.

Secondary information