Appendix 1: Correspondence between the
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, the Permanent Secretary
and the Chair of the Committee
Letter from Shahid Malik MP, Parliamentary Under
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to Dr
Phyllis Starkey, Chair of the Communities and Local Government
Committee
I know you have concerns over the release of documents
related to FiReControl to the Communities and Local Government
Select Committee as part of its inquiry into the project.
I am keen to be as helpful and as open as possible,
and in response to your request I have asked the Permanent Secretary
for his advice.
He has advised that, as these documents form a body
of advice in respect to ongoing policy development and decisions
that have not yet been taken, and as they contain information
classed as commercially confidential. I have accepted this advice.
Furthermore, I am clear that we have shared this information
with the NAO, and I am confident that this has been reflected
in their report, which you have seen.
Given these reasons I have concluded that these documents
should not be released at this time.
I have enclosed a copy of the letter setting out
the Permanent Secretary's advice, which I have accepted.
[…]
Shahid Malik MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Communities
and Local Government
8 February 2010
Letter from Peter Housden, the Permanent Secretary,
to Shahid Malik MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for
Communities and Local Government
You have sought my advice in relation to a request
received from the CLG Select Committee to release a number of
documents referred to in the report prepared by the NAO to inform
the Committee's enquiry into FiReControl. I know that you are
keen to be as helpful and transparent as possible in respect of
this request.
Having considered the content of these documents
my advice is that they should not be released at this time.
These documents form part of the body of advice which
you have received from officials in respect of ongoing policy
development and decisions in relation to this project which have
not yet been taken.
In addition the documents contain information which
would clearly be classed as commercially confidential. This information
is relevant to our ongoing negotiations with EADS and its release
could prejudice our ability to conclude those discussions successfully.
For these reasons, I do not believe that these documents
should be released at this time and would offer the same advice
in relation to a Freedom of Information request. I understand
that all of these documents were disclosed to the NAO on a confidential
basis during the course of their investigation. I believe therefore
that I can be confident that all issues material to the Select
Committee's enquiry have been appropriately reflected in the NAO's
report.
[...]
Peter Housden,
Permanent Secretary, Communities and Local Government
8 February 2010
Further letter from Shahid Malik MP, Parliamentary
Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
to Dr Phyllis Starkey, Chair of the Communities and Local Government
Committee
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the FiReControl
project at the oral hearing on Monday, 8 February. I agreed to
consider again the position on whether to release the independent
analysis requested by the Committee.
I want to make it clear, as I did at the hearing,
that I welcome the Committee's inquiry into the project and that
I recognise the need for your Committee to have access to information
to conduct an effective examination.
However, I believe that the advice which I received
from the Permanent Secretary—and shared with the Committee
in full—holds for the public or private sharing of this
material at this time.
It is imperative that when we commission independent
analysis that assessment is able to give the department direct,
honest feedback to inform our decision-making. It is equally important
that it can consider live commercially or operationally sensitive
issues. That is the value of this analysis. I would not want future
advice to be constrained by an eye to wider immediate dissemination—this
would risk changing the nature of these reports. These reports
were commissioned without prejudice and to support policy advice
to Ministers on decisions which are yet to be taken.
I emphasise again that we shared this information
in full with the National Audit Office whom you commissioned to
write a report on the FiReControl project. I believe that this
ensures that we have shared the substance of the analysis, without
exposing commercially or operationally sensitive detail which
could prejudice the department's negotiation position in the future.
I am happy to consider this position again at a time
when policy decisions have been made and I am satisfied that the
release of this material would not prejudice the department's
position in commercial negotiations.
[…]
Shahid Malik MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Communities
and Local Government
10 February 2010
Letter from Dr Phyllis Starkey, Chair of the Communities
and Local Government Committee, to Shahid Malik MP, Parliamentary
Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
Thank you for your letter of 10 February regarding
the release of the independent analysis commissioned by the Department
of the FiReControl project.
I am disappointed that the Department is not prepared
to let the Committee see these documents, even on a confidential
basis. I see no reason why its provision confidentially to the
Committee would prejudice the Department's negotiation position.
As I said at the oral evidence session, it is impossible
for the Committee to judge the appropriateness of your reliance,
in your written memorandum to the Committee, on the advice in
those documents if the Committee has not seen them itself. Although
you rightly say that the National Audit Office had access to these
documents, you will have noticed that the NAO's report is deliberately
factual and avoids making judgements of the sort which it will
be necessary for the Committee to make in coming to a conclusion
on the Department's handling of the project.
I expect that the Committee will wish to make comment
in its eventual Report on the fact that it has not been able to
see these documents. I expect the Committee to consider a draft
report around mid-March. If the Department is prepared to reconsider
its refusal to let the Committee see the documents concerned before
then we would be very pleased to receive them, on whatever basis
you consider necessary to protect the Department's negotiating
position.
[…]
Dr Phyllis Starkey MP
Chair, Communities and Local Government Committee
15 February 2010
CLG's response to Dr Starkey's letter can be seen
in its supplementary evidence, Ev 99.
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