Select Committee on Public Administration Ninth Report

APPENDIX 1

 

  Submitted by the Principal Clerk, Table Office, House of Commons

Following normal practice, I enclose a copy of the Table Office's digest of the pattern of answers: the list of questions which had been blocked by virtue of a minister's refusal to answer them in the Session 1999-2000, which lasted from November 1999 to 30 November 2000.

The Table Office's previous memoranda to the Committee set out the procedure relating to the compilation, Office style and use of the pattern of answers list, which is of course neither a complete digest of blocking answers nor an absolute statement of what may not be asked. It is primarily an internal document designed as a practical guide to some of the limits set by ministers in replying to questions.

Dates between 17 and 30 November in the list are all from 1999, unless otherwise indicated.

19 March 2001

 

  PATTERN OF ANSWERS LIST FOR SESSION 1999-2000

 

		ADVOCATE GENERAL
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1	14.12	Devolved matters	Administration of Justice a matter for the Scottish Executive	101244	119
2	14.12	Law Officers' advice	Convention that neither the substance of Law Officers' advice nor the fact that they have been consulted is disclosed outside Government	101249	120
3	22.2	Trial at Zeist	Oral answer: Matter for the Scottish Executive and the Lord Advocate as prosecuting authority; also sub judice	109633	1361
		AGRICULTURE
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1	7.12	Badgers (TB)	Precise location and timing of trials not publicised for security reasons	100273	525
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
2	11.1	Pesticides	Details of applications for approval of pesticides withheld for reasons of commercial confidentiality until approval given	101749	152
3	25.1	CAP Payments	Details of recipients of the10 largest CAP payments in 1998 commercially sensitive and withheld	105512	188
4		Correspondence
	10.2	(a) Correspondence with Members	Details of correspondence with Members including the numbers of letters received confidential	108404	291
	29.3	(b) Correspondence between Ministers and Hon Friends	Not appropriate to comment on correspondence between Ministers and Hon Friends	100175	135
5	21.2	Beef exports	Information about the value of beef exports commercially confidential as long as there are only two establishments approved to export it.	108484	747
6	28.2	Leaked and internal documents	Government does not comment on leaked documents nor on internal policy documents	107237	26
7	15.5	Advice to ministers	Not customary for policy advice given by officials to ministers to be made publicly available	121955	9
8	13.6	Animal experiments	S.24 of Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 prevents the disclosure of information about the use of animals in scientific procedures that has been provided in confidence	125902	534

		ATTORNEY GENERAL/SOLICITOR GENERAL
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1	13.12	Advice	Convention that neither the substance of Law Officers' advice on a question nor the fact that they have been consulted is disclosed outside Government other than in exceptional circumstances: and see 29.6 [127063]	102132	39
2	24.1	Crown Prosecution Service (Senator Pinochet)	Crown Prosecution Service acting as agent on behalf of the Kingdom of Spain in relation to the extradition request for Senator Pinochet; details of instructions received withheld under solicitor-client confidentiality.	106408	1
		CHURCH COMMISSIONERS
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1	17.7	Individual salaries	The Commissioners do not disclose the salaries of persons employed by them or bishops	130405	9
		CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1		Millennium Dome
	2.12	(a) Construction costs	Construction costs of each zone in the Dome withheld as commercially sensitive	99338	325
	2.12	(b) Commercial interest	Details of responses from those interested in purchasing or leasing the Dome after the millennium experience withheld as commercially confidential	99321	324
	4.2	(c) Sponsorship contract details	Sponsorship contract details confidential	104602	771
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
	28.2	(d) Employment contracts	Not NMEC policy to publish contract documents between the company and employees: and see 17.3 [110073] (pay rates offered to production crews confidential)	109958	90
	10.3	(e) Amounts owed to suppliers	Amount owed to suppliers is commercially confidential. Disclosure would be in breach of the terms of contracts between the NMEC and third parties	113510	838
	17.3	(f) Catering contracts	Terms and conditions of standard catering contracts withheld as confidential.	110505	368
	15.5	(g) New Millennium Experience Company	Potential range of net receipts are commercially confidential	120229	11
2	7.12	BBC	Longstanding principle that the Government does not interfere with the BBC's programming and editorial matters, which are matters for the Board of Governors; and see 13.12 [101377] 21.7[130927]	99965	469
3	27.1	Representations (ITV Mergers)	Details of representations on ITV mergers withheld because of commercial confidentiality	106953	304
4	4.7	Lottery funds	Applications for Lottery funds are made in confidence & therefore no list of Lottery funds applications is available	128345	151
5	6.7	Internal advice	Information relating to internal advice and consultation is not disclosed	129164 129175	289
6	30.10	Ministerial engagements	Not the practice to publish details of ministerial engagements	134635	331
7	14.11	Royal Art Collection	The Royal Collection is not the responsibility of the Government	137547	622

		DEFENCE
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1	26.11	Future budget	Planning assumptions for future budget pending new pay rates to be agreed withheld under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	99922	222
2	26.11	Security costs (Bloody Sunday Inquiry)	Cost of special security measures for former members of the Parachute Regiment withheld for security reasons under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	98588	225
3	30.11	AWE Aldermaston	Number of MoD Police officers at AWE Aldermaston withheld under Exemption 1(a) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	100682	84
4	6.12	US Army Chinook	Information about a US Army Chinook barrel roll incident in 1998 withheld under Exemption 1c (information received in confidence from foreign governments) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government information	101400	347
5	7.12	NATO decision making	Details of the application of NATO decision making processes in specific operations withheld as harmful to defence, security and international relations under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	101336	456

No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
6		Munitions:
	7.12	(a) Use	Information on the Royal Navy's use of munitions in the course of Operations (i) Allied Force and (ii) Bolton withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information: and see 28.1 [107246; 107244] (Quantity of ammunition expended by the Navy and Army); 8.6 [125005][125081][125008](details of live-fire training exercises withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information)	101337	456
	28.1	(b) Holdings	How many of each type of cluster munition held by the RAF, Army and Navy withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information: and see 5.6 [124316](refusal to specify proportion of stockpile used in operation Allied Force); 5.6[124223](book value, if collected centrally, would be withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information); 8.6[125011](stocks of Exocet, Sea Eagle, Sea Dart withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information)	107273	384
	28.2	(c) Provision levels	Specific information on the amount of ammunition provided for training purposes withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	111787	32
7		Procurement:
	7.12	(a) Cost estimates	Cost estimates of listed projects are commercially sensitive and withheld under Exemption 7 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	98481	452

No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
	15.12	(b) Number of missiles ordered	Disclosure of number of missiles ordered harmful to national security interests and would be a breach of third party commercial confidences and withheld under Exemptions 1 and 13 of the Code of Conduct on Access to Government Information: and see 9.2 [108749][108748]; 25.7 [131490]	100760 100759	211
	21.12	(c)(1) C-17; (2) Antonov 124-100	Geographical or other constraints on aircraft operation withheld under Exemption 7 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information because it would prejudice the assessment of options and (in the case of the Antonovs) involve commercially confidential information which is withheld under Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	103107 103108 103105 103106	471 472 473
	3.4	(d) Placing Antonov on British military list	Length of time required to place Antonov on British military list withheld under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	116598	300
	3.4	(e) Unit cost of Antonov124 and Boeing C17	Information withheld as commercially sensitive	116560	300
	28.1	(f) Representations from interested parties	Representations from companies with a potential commercial interest in purchase of C17 Transports withheld under Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information on the basis that support for one option is potentially a matter within a company's commercial interest	104404	380
	2.2	(g) Employment forecasts (A400M Project)	Inappropriate to publish information supplied by companies on employment consequences of competing options for the Future Transport Aircraft requirement; information withheld under Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	104420	583
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
	14.3	(h) Astute Class Submarines	Terms and conditions of the subcontracts for the optronics masts withheld under Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	113912	105
	14.3	(i) Strategic airlift	European Staff Requirement for Strategic Airlift withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	113934	112
	27.3	(j) Global Positioning System	Estimate of cost of upgrades withheld under Exemption 7 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information (otherwise the question was answered).	115750	27
	6.4	(k) Invitations to tender (CVR(T) Tank	Invitations to tender documents contain classified information and withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	117129	554
	12.4	(l) PFI for service accommodation	(i) Annual maintenance charge withheld under Exemption 7 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	118063	146
			(ii) Estimated prices of houses, pending final tender, withheld under Exemption 7 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	118059	147
	19.4	(m) New Carriers	Annual procurement costs for new carriers withheld under Exemptions 2 and 7a of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information (but general figure for costs given)	118265 118268	479
8		Nuclear Weapons etc
	14.12	(a) US/UK exchanges of information	Precise details of US/UK exchanges on aspects of nuclear weapons stewardship withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	102128	93

No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
	10.1	(b) Trident missile yields and targets	Details withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information: and see 10.1 [104074;104073]	104077	95
	21.3	(c) Tritium production	(i) Unit cost of production of tritium withheld under Exemption 1 & 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	114444	491
	3.4		(ii) Quantity of tritium produced and exported withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information: and see 3.5 [120065] (block confirmed)	116592	303
	12.4	(d) Experts names	Names of experts responsible for assessing the details of tenders for managing AWE Aldermaston withheld under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	118513	148
	17.5	(e) Nuclear accident response plans	Radioactive inventories and source terms as well as certain listed documents are classified and withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	121412 121348	161
9	15.12	Army Intelligence Corps	Date of decision to stand down the Army Intelligence Corps withheld under Exemption 1a of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	101865	216
10	16.12	STANOC Centre, Larkhill	Details of specific charges levied by STANOC Centre, Larkhill withheld under Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	102872 102873	258
11	16.12	Deaths of Gulf Veterans	Information on comparative sample of deaths of non-Gulf personnel withheld pending peer review under Exemption 11a of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	103469	257

No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
12	10.1	Army Foundation College	Investment Appraisals for the Army Foundation College withheld as being the basis of advice to ministers under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	102580	84
13		Internal discussions and advice
	28.1	(a) Record of internal discussions	Working notes of a meeting between DERA and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency are a record of internal discussions and withheld under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information: and see 17.2 [108486] (details of internal discussion and advice on the Bloody Sunday inquiry)	106726	382
	14.3	(b) Advice to ministers	Ministry of Defence Equipment Approvals Committee consideration of the strategic airlift project constitutes advice to ministers and details withheld under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	113953	108
	10.7	(c) Internal advice and consultation	Internal advice and consultation is not disclosed under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	129159 129106 129178
14	28.1	Sale price of Ministry land	Sale price of the Old Range, Shoeburyness withheld until completion as commercially confidential under Exemption 7 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information: and see 7.3 [113515]; 25.7[131407]	107027	383
15	31.1	PFI contract (Defence Helicopter Flying School)	Exact value of PFI contract for the Defence Helicopter Flying School withheld under Exemption 11 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information; but rough figure given.	100284	413
16	3.2	Correspondence with Members	Correspondence with Members confidential unless the Member wishes otherwise	108409	678

No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
17		Operational matters
	7.2	(a) Iraq.	Number of aircraft involved in specific incidents withheld under Exemption 1a of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	108433	31
	2.3	(b) Location of vessel	Precise location of HMS Vigilant during deep water training in Atlantic withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information: and see 11.7 [129858]	111949	328
	6.6	(c) Allied operations	Detailed information on the activities of other allies in Iraq withheld under Part II section 1c of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	122846 122848 122844 122847	168 169
	6.6	(d) Authority to attack	Details of operations relating to authority to attack on several occasions withheld under Part II section 1a of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	122849	171
	7.7	(e) Readiness of submarines	Specific operational readiness of each submarine classified and withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information: and see 26.7 [132710]	129670	338
18	9.2	Thiepval Barracks	Report on Thiepval Barracks of 1997 withheld under Exemption 1a of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	109082	164
19		Individuals' details
	28.2	(a) Nancekuke study	Document containing individuals' names and medical records withheld under Exemption 12 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	111699 111701	32
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
	5.6	(b) Personal service record	Details of personal service record not disclosed without the consent of the person referred to under Exemptions 8 and 12 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.	123557	22
20		Nerve agents
	8.3	(i) Toxic doses	Details of estimates on toxic doses of nerve agents withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	112367	709
	25.7	(ii) Toxicity level	Comparative toxicity levels of sarin and GF withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	130528	548
21	25.7	Chemical weapons	Holdings of chemical weapons withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	130852	549
22	21.3	Strategic Defence Initiative	Strategic Defence Initiative Memorandum of Understanding 1985 withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	114325	492
23	21.3	Transport aircraft	Cost of the hire of transport aircraft withheld under Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	114744	493
24	22.3	Live Firing Exercises	Number and other details of live firing exercises undertaken by the Royal Navy withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	114547	569
25		Weapons performance
	3.4	(a) Light Support Weapon	Details of the performance of the Light Support Weapon withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	114214	298
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
	3.4	(b) Field Trial Report	Report on the SA80 and LSW withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	114215	298
26		Security matters
	5.4	(a) Security clearance	Not appropriate to give details of the particular levels of security clearance held by individuals	117775	489
	10.4	(b) Injunctions	Details of publishers, publications, authors and titles of the works subject to temporary injunctions which are harmful to national interests or in breach of confidentiality obligations withheld under Exemptions 4 and 14 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information (but number of injunctions in force given).	117260	19
	23.5	(c) Intelligence activities	Long-standing practice of successive Governments not to comment on alleged intelligence activities, which are covered by Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.	122763 122764	461
	19.6	(d) Use of informants in Northern Ireland.	Whether use of informants by MoD is governed by Home Office guidelines withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.	126222	34
	19.6	(e) Anglo-Irish meeting	Further details of an informal meeting withheld under Exemptions 4, 12 and 14 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, but previous answer given on 19 July 1999.	126223	36
27	12.5	RAF Menwith Hill	Number of GCHQ staff withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	121780	513
28	23.5	Joint NBC Regiment	Copy of study on the location of the regiment withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	123119 123116	464

No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col
29	19.6	Animal experiments	Details of study on animals commercially sensitive and withheld under Exemption 13 of Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	125675	27
30	26.6	Ballistic Missile Defence	Records of meetings with the Russian Defence minister withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	126940	409
31	24.7	Michael John Smith	List of documents removed from a prison cell withheld under Exemption 4c of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	132275	381
32	27.7	Ministerial duty rosters	Not normal practice to publish duty rosters	133075	749
		CABINET OFFICE/DUCHY OF LANCASTER
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1	21.12	Ministerial meetings	Internal meetings between ministers confidential	102133	573
2	3.2	Correspondence with Members	Correspondence with Members confidential unless the Member wishes otherwise	108407	719
3	28.2	Cabinet proceedings (list of cabinet advisers)	Proceedings of Cabinet and Cabinet Committees exempt from commitment to disclose information under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information: and see 10.7 [128056]; 30.11[140404]	111912	150
4	28.2	Personal salary details	Not practice to give personal salary details of those employed in the Civil Service	112071	151
5	27.7	Ministerial duty rosters	Not normal practice to publish duty rosters	132974	801

		EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1	7.12	Education Service Providers (bids)	Bids and related documents are commercial in confidence	101504	509
2	12.1	Remploy	Bourton Report on Remploy withheld as commercially sensitive	104095	175
3	16.2	Correspondence with Members	Correspondence with Members confidential unless the Member wishes otherwise	108410	579
4	17.2	Further education students	Number in Wales a matter for the National Assembly for Wales	109153	654
5	19.7	Internal advice	Internal advice and consultation not disclosed under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	129146 129180	203
		ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE REGIONS
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1	13.1	Millennium Dome (Financial value)	Government estimate of financial value of Millennium Dome restricted as commercial-in-confidence	104437	212
2	3.2	Correspondence	Correspondence with Members confidential unless the Member wishes otherwise: and others see 20.11.00[139078]	108402	664
3	24.3	Future engagements	Not the practice to give details of future ministerial engagements	116261	703

No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
4		Advice
	20.4	(a) Internal Advice	Internal advice and the source of such advice is not made public, under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information: and see 19.5 [120586]; 7.7 [129161;129181]	120044	612
	26.6	(b) Legal advice	Not practice of the Government to disclose the legal advice which they have received on any matter, nor the source of such advice (and see 27.6 col 728 for a point of order arising from the answer)	127314	373
5		Matters for the London Mayor
	13.6	(a) Congestion taxes	and see 22.6 DTI (inward investment)	124013 124027	544
	3.7	(b) GLA roads	and see 26.7 [133168; 133165; 133170; 133167; 133166; 133169]; and 27.7 [133175]	128382 128295	92
	17.7	(c) Single Regeneration Budget	in London	130509	55
6	13.7	Confidential communications	Practice of successive Governments not to disclose confidential communication between departments and public bodies, under Exemption 2 of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	130438	629
		FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1	23.11	Murdered hostages (Chechnya)	Interview transcripts withheld under Exemptions 1c and 14a (information provided in confidence), 14b (disclosure could prejudice future cooperation) and 4 (continuing law enforcement and legal proceedings)	99250	86

No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
2		Intelligence matters:
	8.12	(a) Intelligence operations (Echelon)	Long standing practice not to respond to speculation on alleged intelligence operations; and see 4.5 [120774] (interception activity); 7.6 [118947]	100839	538
	18.1	(b) Intelligence reports	Security constraints prevent discussing intelligence reports	104857	410
	29.3	(c) Intelligence sharing between the US and Britain	Correspondence concerning sharing of information and intelligence withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	116353	169
	20.6	(d) Surveillance systems	Government policy not to comment on alleged surveillance systems	126298	161
		EU matters
3	27.1	(a) EU handbooks	Copies of guidance handbooks on EU institutions and procedures of the Council withheld as prejudicial to the UK position in negotiations	106162	298
	15.5	(b) EU Working Groups	Preparatory discussions within Working Groups are confidential	121511	30
4		Terrorism
	18.1	(a) Threat assessment	Threat assessment relating to Hamas made from intelligence sources and withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	104859	411
	18.1	(b) Financial links between Iran and Hamas	Extent of financial link between Hamas and Iran made from intelligence sources and withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	104858	411
	18.1	(c) Data on countries which sponsor terrorism	Data on countries which sponsor terrorism withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information: and see 19.1 [105001]	104770	413

No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
	25.1	(d) Sources of funds for Palestinian Islamic Jihad	Sources of funds for Palestinian Islamic Jihad withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	106540	166
5	20.1	Correspondence with other Governments (Pinochet)	Not practice to make publicly available contents of notes of meetings or copies of correspondence with other Governments—details are confidential to the Governments concerned	106009	581
6	24.1	Internal discussions	Minutes of internal discussions are not made public under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	106646	36
7	3.2	Correspondence with Members	Correspondence with Members confidential unless the Member wishes otherwise	108401	740
8		Sale of Property (commercial confidentiality)
	17.2	(a) Names of buyers	Names of buyers not published for reasons of commercial confidentiality	110512	682
	5.5	(b) Price etc	Not policy to reveal details of price and other terms: and see 19.5 [122954]	119326	239
9	17.2	Departmental meetings	Not normal practice to release details of specific meetings with private individuals and companies	110510	678
10		Nuclear matters
	6.3	(a) UK/French Joint Nuclear Commission	Records of meetings withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, but general information given on the frequency of meetings	112417 112421 112420 112419 112418 112422	500
	24.3	(b) Import and export of nuclear materials	Correspondence between the British Embassy in Washington and the Government on the import and export of nuclear material withheld under Exemptions 1 and 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	116268	715

No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
11	2.5	Internal advice	Internal advice and the source of such advice is not made public, under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information: and see 6.7 [129168; 129155]	120045	66
12	27.7	Ministerial holidays	Not normal practice to disclose Ministers' holiday plans	132939	826
13	27.7	Ministerial duty rosters	Not normal practice to publish duty rosters	133072	827
		HEALTH
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1		Devolved matters
	8.12	(a) Departmental Estate (Scotland)	Value of land and properties held by NHS and the Health Department in Scotland a matter for the Scottish Executive	99737 99735	562
	9.2	(b) Statistics on operations (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland)	Matters relating to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are for the devolved administrations; statistics on waiting times for (a) the UK and (b) England and Wales as a unit not given.	108863	197
2	3.2	Correspondence with Members	Correspondence with Members confidential unless the Member wishes otherwise	108400	712
3	17.7	Internal advice	Information relating to internal advice and consultation is not disclosed under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	129171 129105	73
4	27.7	Ministerial duty rosters	Not normal practice to publish duty rosters	133074	750
5	14.11	Personnel records	Personnel records relating to public employment are confidential under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	137574	603

		INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1	24.1	Special Advisers (CVs)	Curriculum vitae of specialist advisers withheld as personally confidential	106343	76
2	27.1	Cabinet Committees	Attendance at Cabinet Committees not made public under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	106447	317
3	4.2	Correspondence with Members	Correspondence with Members confidential unless the Member wishes otherwise	108405	783
		HOME
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1		Security matters
	23.11	(a) Security costs	Not in public interest to disclose information that could compromise the security arrangements relating to public figures; and see 2(b) below; and see 9.3 [113048;113049; 113050] (policy not to comment on the details of protection arrangements for individuals, as to do so could compromise their security)	99258; 99259	66
	2.5	(b) Individual records	Long-standing Government policy neither to confirm or deny whether security or intelligence agencies hold records on any individual	120048	76
	20.11. 2000	( c) Extremist political involvement	Policy of successive Governments not to comment on extremist political involvement in matters	139019	90

No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
2		Operational matters (Police)
	24.11	(a) Police (deployment; management; enforcement policy)	For Chief Officers to determine staffing levels and deployment within the resources available: and see 21.12 [103325; 103324] (deployment); 28.2 [110469](deployment at ports); 17.7 [130983](officers on the beat); 21.7[130072;130071](provision of services from & management of fixed asstes, esp. police stations); 27.7 [132095](enforcement of the law regarding cycling)	99056 98518 98519	123 126
	7.3	(b) Personal protection (Senator Pinochet)	Number of officers employed and cost relating to protection of Senator Pinochet withheld for security reasons; number of officers deployed an operational matter for the relevant chief officers of police: and see 16.3 [113559]	113513 113514	568
3	29.11	Commission for Racial Equality (settlement of claims)	Details of individual settlements relating to claims of racial discrimination by employees of the CRE confidential between the parties	100211	8
4		Internal communications
	15.12	(a) Communications between Ministers and officials	Internal discussion and advice exempt from the commitments to provide access to Government Information: and see 7.7 [129163]; 10.7 [129174]; 30.11 [100799]	101709	211
	1.2	(b) Discussions between ministers	Normal convention that discussions between ministers are not disclosed	106650	509
5		Immigration
	21.12	(a) Individual cases	Detailed records on individual overseas nationals are confidential: and see 27.1 [106975] (representations about individual cases)	102775	489

No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
	6.3	(b) Asylum (accommodation)	All information about organisations which have tendered to provide accommodation for asylum seekers under the national asylum support scheme and the details of their bids is commercially confidential	113315	542
6	24.1	Communications with other Governments (General Pinochet)	Not practice to make publicly available the contents of correspondence with other Governments; details of contacts of this nature are confidential to the Governments concerned	106017	20
7	27.1	Negotiating positions of member states	Not practice to disclose negotiating positions of EU member states	106423	232
8	3.2	Correspondence with Members	Correspondence with Members confidential unless the Member wishes otherwise	108408	700
9	3.2	Burns Inquiry (appointments)	Invidious to give details of merits of persons not appointed to the inquiry	108181	707
10	22.2	Animal experiments	S.24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 prohibits naming of applicants for licences under the Act: and see 7.3 [112633; 112564; 112565; 112629; 112630; 112631; 112632]; and 23.3 [115749](how many animals killed at a particular establishment); 3.4 [116939; 116940]; 4.4 [117020; 117021; 117022];11.5 [121506]; 15.5 [121488] & 25.7 [130708,130709](prevents disclosure of detailed information about individual research programmes licensed under the Act); 15.5 [121958] (prohibits release of an application to use protected animals and the cost/benefit assessment)	110987 111048 110989 111015 111083 111013 110988	878
11	27.3	Legal advice	Not policy to disclose details of legal advice in relation to commercial arrangements for installation and operation of Information Technology	116294	5

No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
12	24.5	Extradition	Long standing policy not to comment on whether an extradition request has been made for a particular individual	123047	488
13	27.7	Ministerial duty rosters	Not normal practice to publish duty rosters	132976 133076	900
		LORD CHANCELLOR
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1	20.12	PFI bids	No plans to publish value for money study or related PFI bids due to their confidential nature	102824	314
2	10.1	Training of Judges (devolved)	Training for judges in Scotland a matter for the Scottish Executive	103610	36
3		Trials and judges
	19.1	(a) Conduct of Judges	Names of complainants and judges about whom complaints have been made are confidential	105335	507
	16.5	(b) Conduct of trials	Inappropriate to call for a report on a trial as they are matters for the judiciary and independent of the government and administration	122479	118
4	31.1	Maintenance Orders (Enforcement Overseas)	Inappropriate to comment on individual cases	107026	473
5	3.2	Correspondence with Members	Correspondence with Members confidential unless the Member wishes otherwise	108399	727
6	25.7	Magistrates' Courts	Decisions on future of magistrates' courts for local courts' committees	130602	537
7	27.7	Ministerial duty rosters	Not normal practice to publish duty rosters or ministers' holiday plans	133171	872
		PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1			Nil
		NORTHERN IRELAND
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1		Matters devolved
	6.12	(a) Farming		100057	335
	13.12	(b) Industries and Universities		100644 100660	336
	13.12	(c) Number of companies		102482	22
	15.12	(d) Northern Ireland Civil Service matters	and see 24.1 [103831; & 103832] (training for NI departments); 6.6 [124254][124255]	102039 101884	197; 199
	15.12	(e) Northern Ireland Fire Brigade		101886 101885	198
	24.1	(f) Adult education		102680 105277	283 5
	10.1	(g) Composition of local authority work forces		104012	33
	12.1	(h) North/South ministerial Council and economic development		103420 103431	178
	24.1	(i) Young people in care		106449 106454 106448	8
	27.1	(j) Flying the flag from public and school buildings	and see 1.2 [107817]; 19.6 [125544]; but since then a Flags Order has been made.	101873	297
	31.1	(k) Transtec loans and grants		107633	448
	9.2	(l) Northern Ireland Executive (Redundancy Payments)		107691	188
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
	9.2	(m) Part-time working		107694	189
	12.6	(n) The 11-plus		123872	493
	12.6	(o) Ambulances	but partly answered	123889 123888	493
	21.6	(p) How many jobs created	and see 27.11.2000 [140471](unemployment rates of Catholics and Protestants in the last 20 years)	125489 125502	220
	21.6	(q) When a Civic Forum is to be established		125492	221
	3.7	(r) Estimate of the number of various types of fish caught		128853	27
	12.7	(s) Non-departmental public appointments		129850	543
	19.7	(t) Links between schools		129881	195
	19.7	(u) Abortion & contraceptive services		129887	196
	19.7	(v) Allocation of EU structural Funds		129873	195
	15.11	(w) The New Deal		136475	663
2	8.2	Correspondence with Members	Correspondence with Members confidential unless the Member wishes otherwise	108406	84
3	14.2	Contributors to consultation (Parades Commission)	Not Government practice to publish lists of contributors	110048	353
4	15.2	RUC (Individual operational responsibilities)	Not considered appropriate to answer questions relating to the operational responsibilities of individual members of the RUC	108429	462
5	2.3	Security	Government policy not to discuss security with third parties: and see 16.3 [113831] and 10.4 [117262] (no discussion of security provided to individuals or groups); 21.3 [113472](security assessments confidential)	103817	404
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
6	22.5	Surveillance	Not Government policy to comment on claims of this nature (about the placing of a listening device); and see 23.5 [122763][122764](not Government policy to comment on alleged intelligence activities).	118979	329
7	12.6	Shootings (predjudice to proceedings)	Inappropriate to releaase information relating to the shootings of Martin Patten and Kurt Konig, as to do so might prejudice future proceedings	124326	494
8	17.7	Internal advice	Information on internal advice and consultation is not disclosed under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	129172 129158	17
9	27.7	Ministerial duty rosters	Not normal practice to publish duty rosters	133073	807
		PRIME MINISTER
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1	6.12	Private meetings	Not practice to provide details of private meetings: and see 21.12 [103749] and 17.2 [110503] (but general details given of background of invitees); and 27.6 [125999] (not normal practice1/4); 6.11 [135433]	101207	355
2	7.12	Cabinet Committees (Joint Cabinet Consultative Committee)	Proceedings of the JCCC confidential (reference back to Answers of 5 July 1999 stating that details of Cabinet Committees exempt from disclosure): and see 20.12 [102643] [103081]; 19.12[105668][105667]; and 7.2 [107829] (number of Cabinet Committee meetings withheld under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information)	101212 101214	471
3	7.2	Correspondence with Members	Correspondence with Members confidential unless the Member wishes otherwise: and see 30.10 [134571]	108961	4

No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
4	9.3	Confidential information from foreign Governments	Established practice not to disclose information received in confidence from foreign Governments under Exemption 1(c) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information: and see 22.5 [122792] (requests for meetings with him by foreign Governments)	113065	789
5	20.3	Honours	Established practice not to disclose information, opinions and assessments relating to honours	115421 115422 115423	405
6	20.4	Internal advice	Internal advice and the source of such advice is not made public, under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information: and see 7.7 [129149;129182; 129236]; 27.11[140134]	120047 120049	596
7	25.5	Honours (Removal)	Removal of a peerage requires legislation	122905	577
8	28.7	Leak inquiries	Not practice to comment on leak inquiries	132317	966
9	28.7	Civil servants pay	Salaries of individual civil servants not disclosed	132348	966
10	10.11	Value of sites— The Dome	Established practice not to disclose such information (value of the Dome site if the Dome were to be demolished) under Exemption 7 of the Code on Access to Government Information	138017	423

		SCOTLAND OFFICE
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1		Matters for Scottish Parliament/ Executive (Other devolved matters: see 103610; 99737 & 99735)	Devolved matters
	9.12	(a) GM foods		101754	629
	10.1	(b) Training of Police and Prison Service		103611	26
	8.3	(c) Tuition fees	and see item 3 below	112042	715
	12.6	(d) Local economic development		123576	463
	26.6	(e) Recovery of costs of repairs to the Erskine Bridge		126692	432
	28.6	(f) Revenue funding of police forces	as amended 13.7 col 675	127330	523
	17.7	(g) Relocation of Scottish Executive civil servants		129916	56
	17.7	(h) Scottish water authorities	and see 17.7 [126272]	126273	57
	17.7	(I) Scottish public authority pensions		126271	57
2	3.2	Correspondence with Members	Correspondence with Members confidential unless the Member wishes otherwise	108398	717
3	8.3	Legal advice	It is neither the custom nor the practice of the UK Government or the Scottish Executive to publish their legal advice	112042	715
4	21.3	Parliament Building	Cost of the Scottish Parliament Building a matter for the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body; and see 21.3 [114010] (Oral Answer)	114016	526

No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
5	17.7	Internal advice	Information relating to internal advice and consultation is not disclosed under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information: and see 1.2 [107817]; 19.6 [125544]	129166 129177	58
6	27.7	Ministerial duty rosters	Not normal practice to publish duty rosters	133078 133146	876
		SOCIAL SECURITY
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1	29.11	Industrial Injuries Scheme (individual claimants)	Representations relating to individual claimants confidential	99572	58
2	18.1	Legal advice	Legal advice tendered by legal advisers internal policy advice and is not normally disclosed under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	104991 104990	431
3	3.2	Correspondence with Members	Correspondence with Members confidential unless the Member wishes otherwise	108411	713
4	9.3	Cabinet Committees	Information on Cabinet Committees not made public under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	113620 113621	809
5	11.7	Internal advice	Information relating to internal advice and consultation is confidential and not disclosed under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	129154 129169	486
6	27.7	Ministerial duty rosters	Not normal practice to publish duty rosters	133057	840

		TRADE AND INDUSTRY
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1		Departmental support
	9.12	(a) Launch Aid (Departmental royalties)	Possible levies arising from individual projects commercially confidential	100550	611
	17.1	(b) Applications for grant or financial support	Individual applications are commercially confidential: and see 9.2 [109004] (applications for export credit support); 2.3 [112411] (general information on value of ECGD support, but information on business under consideration withheld as commercial in confidence); 26.7 [131892]: but see 29.3 [116218] (answer given whether or not a company has applied for Regional Selective Assistance)	104767	259
2		Post Office (Benefit Payments)
	20.12		(a) Unit costs of processing benefits payments by voucher, Girocheque and payable order commercially confidential	103143	380
	21.12		(b) Value to the Post Office of the business this represents commercially confidential	101609	467
	21.6		(c) Details of payments made to post offices in respect of business undertaken for the Benefits Agency are commercially confidential.	124713	184
3	19.1	ADD Report on the synchrotron project	Full ADD Report confidential and withheld under withheld under Exemptions 2 and 7 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, but a summary of the Report and the key conclusions will be published	105625	487
4	20.1	Horizon Working Group	Horizon Working Group on Post Office business issues withheld as commercially sensitive	104724	519

No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
5	20.1	Departmental Inquiries	Inquiry into Hollis Industries plc confidential and in accordance with established practice and legal constraints conclusions withheld	104670	525
6	27.1	Grants to businesses	Details of Government's dealings with business over grants are confidential	105784	286
7	27.1	Mergers (Representations)	Not policy to disclose identity of those making representations on mergers so that interested parties may comment freely: and see 20.3 [115213]; 3.7 [128493]	106144	289
8		Communications
	7.2	(a) Correspondence with Members	Correspondence with Members confidential unless the Member wishes otherwise	108397	7
	3.3	(b) Correspondence with companies (BNFL)	Correspondence with BNFL a matter for company and the Government	112354	421
	3.3	(c) Correspondence with Governments (BNFL)	Correspondence with Japanese Government a matter for both Governments	112355	422
	20.3	(d) Internal communications	Communications between the Embassy in Tokyo and the department withheld because disclosure would harm the frankness of internal discussion: and see 14.4 [118721] (internal ministerial correspondence relating to Longbridge withheld because it contained commercially sensitive information)	114082	412
	20.6	(e) Correspondence with the European Commission	Correspondence with the European Commission on the Parental Leave Directive is confidential	126286	142
9	7.2	Sellafield MOX plant	Details of BNFL's commercial contracts for the Sellafield MOX plant are commercially confidential.	106713	5
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
10	3.3	Affairs of particular companies	Policy of the Department not to comment on the affairs of particular companies: and see 6.3 [113038]	112735	424
11	17.3	A3XX Super-Jumbo Project	Specific terms of the investment are commercially confidential: and see 3.4 [116950] (independent assessment of the likely demand for the A3XX withheld as commercially confidential); 7.4 [118263;118261] (detailed terms of launch investment provided confidential)	115137	365
12	29.3	DTI investigations	Department's well established practice not to comment on whether or not confidential investigations have been or are being carried out	114471	187
13	3.5	Internal advice	Internal advice and the source of such advice is not made public, under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information; and see 24.5 [122942][122943](policy advice from the Director General of Fair Trading is not published); and [129179][129153].	120050 120304	132 133
14	21.6	Allegations against companies	Inappropriate to comment on specific allegations against British companies which are a matter for the appropriate courts	127079 127080	183
15	22.6	Matters for the London Mayor	Inward investment in London from July 2000	127139	236
16	22.11 2000	Leak inquiries	Policy under successive administrations not to publish the findings of internal inquiries of this kind	139248	197

		TREASURY
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1	22.11	Budget (Changes to the tax system)	Cannot anticipate any changes in future Budgets: and see 23.11 [99180; 99181] (Stamp Duty);18.1 [105357](Beer Duty); 10.2 [108753] (representations on the Budget); 30.10 [134654](plans to reduce duty on red diesel): but see 3.2 [106899] (Chancellor will not proceed with proposed Pesticides Tax) for a partial unblock	99194	48
2		Customs & Excise
	24.11	(a) Customs & Excise investigations (Anti-personnel mines)	Not normal practice to disclose publicly information provided to Customs & Excise in connection with their enforcement and investigation responsibilities	99509	155
	17.1	(b) Smuggling	Martin Taylor's Report on combatting smuggling confidential including areas of operational sensitivity and copies withheld	105332	351
	28.2	(c) Purchase of seized spirits	Price obtained commercially confidential	112041	156
	30.3	(d) Customs Officers	Policy not to make public details of the deployment of Customs anti-smuggling officers at each UK airport	116717	259
	30.3	(e) Drugs seizures	Policy not to make public details of Customs drug seizures at each UK airport	116719 116716	259 260
	5.4	(f) Operational matters	Not policy to release information which could compromise a key operational technique (numbers of controlled drugs deliveries)	117321 117345	497

No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
3	6.12	Private taxpayers	Inland Revenue has a statutory duty of confidentiality in respect of all taxpayers' affairs; details of Inland Revenue's investigations withheld; and see 14.4 [118057] (Windfall Tax); 7.6 [124215] (applies to paragraph 31 of the Memorandum of Understanding on Royal Taxation)	100862	449
4	13.12	Bank of England	Details of arrangements the Bank of England has with other central banks are commercially confidential	102150	75
5	20.12	Joint Ministerial Committee	Proceedings of the Committee are confidential	103053	433
7	24.1	Ministers' shareholdings	Advice which ministers seek confidential and withheld under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	105433	117
8	24.1	National Insurance Records	Inappropriate to make public personal information about NI records and information not published under Exemption 12 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, but Member written to by the minister.	106167	118
9	3.2	Correspondence with Members	Correspondence with Members confidential unless the Member wishes otherwise	108412	688
10	18.5	Applications for funding	Applications for funding within Government are not published	121422	260
11	7.7	Internal advice	Information relating to internal advice and consultation is not disclosed	129152 129173	321
12	27.7	Ministerial duty rosters	Not normal practice to publish duty rosters	133060	878

		WALES OFFICE
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
1		Devolved matters:
	27.1	(a) Total cost of the new Welsh Assembly Building	Matters for the National Assembly of Wales	106984	326
		(b) Cancelled operations		106856	326
		(c) Local authority land and contaminated land policy		106148	327
	28.1	(d) influenza statistics		106855	359
	28.2	(e) NHS in Wales	and see 7.3 [112912]; 9.3 [113635]; 26.10[135240] (number of NHS dentists in Wales	110943	40
	2.3	(f) Allocation of Health funding		112306	331
	28.2	(g) business rates revaluation		112305	41
	28.6	(h) Trunk roads and motorways		124726	507
	24.7	(i) Level of Council Tax		131656	479
	24.7	(j) Cardiff County Council	and see 24.7 [131660]	131670	480
	26.10	(k) Number of teachers in Wales	and see 6.11 [135221] etc (education); [135487] (Learning Support Units)	134910	166
	8.11	(l) EU support for organic farming		137098	221
	23.11 2000	(m) Operation of the Bellwin scheme in Wales		139507	263
2	3.2	Correspondence with Members	Correspondence with Members confidential unless the Member wishes otherwise	108413	712
3	5.6	Rate Support Applications	Rate Support Applications are commercial in confidence between the Assembly and the applicant	115202	48
No.	Date	Subject	Comment	qno.	Col.
4	10.7	Internal advice	Internal advice and consultation withheld under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information	129162	410
5	27.7	Ministerial duty rosters	Not normal practice to publish duty rosters	133064	836

 

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Prepared 23 July 2002