ANNEX D
Extract from Official Report, 16 February
1999, Col. 751
Mrs Gillan: To ask the
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs who was
the first person in his Department to have sight of a copy of
the Foreign Affairs Committee report on Sierra Leone (HC 116 of
Session 1998-99); and at what time and on what day it was seen.
Mr Tony Lloyd: Copies
of the report were collected from the Foreign Affairs Committee
office at 0800 on 9 February by the Head of Parliamentary Relations
Department and the Parliamentary Clerk.
Extract from Official Report, 23 February
1999, Cols. 259-260
Mrs Gillan: To ask the
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what statements,
relating to matters contained in the Foreign Affairs Committee
report on Sierra Leone and his response to that report, were released
by representatives of his Department to the media prior to the
publication of the report; and if he will place in the Library
copies of these statements.
Mr Robin Cook: My office
received in the second week of January a copy of a draft of the
report. Shortly before the publication of the report, and at around
the same time as leaks critical of FCO officials appeared in The
Independent, Financial Times and The Times (on
5 and 6 February), we were also made aware of certain key conclusions
of the report.
Neither I nor any FCO Minister, official or special
adviser took any action to publish or disclose any part of any
version of the report; or to interfere with the Committee's deliberations
or the report's preparation. In advance of the publication of
the report on 9 February, we made no comment to the media about
the report, except in response to leaks by others to the press.
Copies of the report—embargoed until publication
at 1000—were released to officials from the Parliamentary
Relations Department of the FCO at 0800 on 9 February. I was immediately
sent a copy. An FCO spokesman subsequently briefed the press orally,
under the same embargo, on my initial response to the report.
After publication of the report, the FCO News Department released
copies to the press of a minute from me to the Permanent Under-Secretary.
A copy of that minute has been placed in the Library.
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