To ask the Lord President of the Council if he has any plans to extend the eligibility of House post-paid envelopes for use by an hon. Member writing to overseas constituents; and if he will make a statement.

I have no plans to do so. However, my hon. Friend may be aware that the Services Committee has recently approved the use of post-paid envelopes to certain official destinations in Europe and this facility will be available to hon. Members in June.

I thank my right hon. Friend for his reply. I remind him that there are now 400,000 overseas constituents with whom hon. Members need to communicate. I am in constant communication with several of mine. Many of them live beyond the territories of Europe. Is my right hon. Friend aware that they like to receive House of Commons envelopes with the proper embossed heading? Will he find some way of enabling hon. Members to use those envelopes for communications with their overseas constituents?

It took some time to establish the arrangement that I have just described for certain European destinations, involving an embossed stamp. My hon. Friend has anticipated me. I was going to remind him that for overseas correspondence concerning parliamentary or constituency business hon. Members may use the normal postage stamps and reclaim the cost from the Fees Office against the office cost allowance. That is one possibility open to my hon. Friend, and he can also use House of Commons envelopes for that purpose even if they are not stamped.