Written question asked by Lord Blencathra (Conservative) on Tuesday, 21 July 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 4 August 2026. It was answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Non-affiliated) on Tuesday, 4 August 2026 on behalf of the Senior Deputy Speaker (HL).

House of Lords: Law Reports

Question: To ask The Senior Deputy Speaker how many law report volumes of all types have been purchased since the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary vacated their offices on the Law Lords' corridor; what is the cost of these volumes; what is the justification for purchasing and placing them in that corridor; and what plans there are to remove and sell them.

Answer: The Lords of Appeal in Ordinary moved to the Supreme Court in 2009. Since then, the Library has purchased 1,298 volumes of law reports in total, with 446 volumes held in the vicinity of the offices on the Law Lords’ corridor. The cost of all volumes since 2009 is not recorded. The total spend for the current year on volumes stored in that corridor is £3,143. The Library holds the legal collection for both Houses of Parliament, and law reports are an essential part of a law library. The law reports are stored in a number of locations, including on the Law Lords’ corridor, to enable timely retrieval. There are currently no plans to move or sell the law reports. Subscriptions to law reports are reviewed at the point of renewal, and where volumes are deaccessioned from the collection they are offered to other libraries.

Secondary information