APPENDIX 7: MEMORANDA FROM THE DEPARTMENT
FOR TRANSPORT (continued)
9. LETTER TO THE CHAIRMAN FROM
DAVID ROWLANDS, PERMANENT SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT,
9 DECEMBER 2005 [BYERS.25]
I hope you found the evidence which I gave the Committee
helpful. Since my appearance we have received a series of requests
from the Clerk of the Committee for documents.
Naturally both I and my Department stand ready to
help the Committee in any way. But I am concerned that in asking
for documents piecemeal the Committee may not gain a full understanding
of the period leading up to, and beyond, Mr Byers' meeting with
Mr Robinson on 25 July 2001. We hold in the Department a full
set of the documents which were before the High Court in the recent
Railtrack shareholders action. They include some 4,400 pages of
departmental papers, emails, etc in chronological order.
I doubt the Committee needs the full set of documents
before the Court. But I would like to make available to you all
of the chronological paperwork so that the Committee is confident
it has a comprehensive view of what was happening during the period
in question.
If you judge that this would be helpful then perhaps
the Clerk of the Committee could discuss with my Parliamentary
Clerk how best to make the paperwork available to you.
9 December 2005 David Rowlands
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