Q&A WRITTEN REPLIES: Windsor Castle fire bill is pounds 35m

The total cost of repairing Windsor Castle after the 1992 fire is now estimated at about pounds 35m, the junior heritage minister, Iain Sproat, disclosed. Some forecasts shortly after the blaze had put the likely bill as high as pounds 60m. The fire gutted the Queen's Chapel and St George's Hall, as well as damaging the adjacent Crimson drawing room and the Chester and Brunswick towers. In a Commons written reply, Mr Sproat said pounds 24.5m of the cost would be met from the opening of Buckingham Palace to the public and entry fees to Windsor Castle.

HANSARD: The price of the Weekly Hansard, the official report of the proceedings of the Commons, is to be cut from pounds 22 to pounds 12, Alan Beith, Liberal Democrat MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed, said on behalf of the House of Commons Commission. The new price, achieved by computerised production and at no additional cost to the House, will take effect from 6 June.

CHURCHILL PAPERS: Stephen Dorrell, Secretary of State for National Heritage, said that the Government had begun High Court legal proceedings with the aim of preserving the papers intact for the nation, before the National Heritage Memorial Fund decided to make National Lottery funds available.