MEMORANDUM 20
Submitted by the Ministry of Defence
Thank you for your letter of 9 June, about the reasons
why information was not provided by the Ministry of Defence in
answer to certain parliamentary questions in the session 1998-99.
In each instance, the reason for Defence Ministers were unable
to provide the information requested was explained in the answer.
In the case of 53 of the 60 cases cited by the Table Office, each
refusal concerned a category of information which is expressly
exempt from the disclosure commitment under Part II of the Code
of Practice on Access to Government Information. Of the remaining
seven cases, question number 76234 should have quoted Exemption
1 under Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government
Information, and 74759 and 71902 should have quoted Exemption
7 of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
In question number 83288, it was explained that part of the information
requested could not be provided as it was not a matter for Defence
Ministers. For question number 68418, the answer fully explained
the reason why the information could not be provided. The remaining
two cases (question numbers 74657 and 75796) cannot be identified,
as the wrong reference numbers seem to have been quoted. The attached
schedule gives the relevant details, including the exemptions
under the Code which applied in the 53 cases.
27 July 2000
Schedule
Exemption 1 - Defence, security and international relations
61463
62656
78716
76736 and exemption 2
81573
82347
66001
80427
87196
84763
88142
88139
65377
67629
74255
88141
88889
88963
75115
72643
82522
93990 and exemption 12
87833
88126
95966
76125
77149
76234
Exemption 2 - Internal discussion and advice
65025
69344
72196
72195
73393 and exemption 13
82516
84506 and exemption 7 and 1391568
92021
93863
Exemption 4 - Law enforcement and legal proceedings
95336
Exemption 7 - Effective management and operations of the public
service
62094
66700
74759
82514
88424
96889
97137
Exemption 12 - Privacy of the individual
67695
77353
93940
93941
Exemption 13 - Third party's commercial confidences
78187
84211
88313
96746
Exemption 14 - Information given in confidence
72203
74657 and 75796 - No records match these numbers.
68418 - This question covered legislative proposals for each year
and as a long-standing convention, details are not announced before
the Queen's Speech at the start of the relevant session.
83288 - MOD Ministers cannot comment on the contributions weapons
and forces to NATO operations by other countries.
76234 - The information was classified and the answer should have
quoted Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government
Information.
74759 and 71902 - The information was commercial in confidence
and the answer should therefore quoted Exemption 7 of the Code
of Practice on Access to Government Information.
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