The Conduct of Lord Moonie, Lord Snape, Lord Truscott and Lord Taylor of Blackburn - Privileges Committee Contents


APPENDIX 6: HOW TO FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE


The four Hansard transcripts were created for the Sub-Committee's inquiry by the House of Lords Hansard department, from the original recordings supplied by the Sunday Times. They are numbered MH1, MH2 etc for Lord Moonie's Hansard transcript; SH1, SH2 etc for Lord Snape's Hansard transcript; TrH1, TrH2 etc for Lord Truscott's Hansard transcript; and TaH1, TaH2 etc for Lord Taylor's Hansard transcript.

Nothing was excluded by Hansard, so ellipses (i.e.: "…") indicate an inaudible trailing off of speech. Hansard transcribed the recordings in the order in which the Sub-Committee received them, rather than the order in which the recordings were originally made. As a result the Hansard transcripts as published (which are chronological) are pieced together from various working transcripts as well as original copies of emails. The original order in which the recordings were received is reflected in the page numbering lines (such as "Lord Moonie Meeting page 1 of 22" or "Telephone CD1 page 5 of 28"), which appear in the published transcript at what was the top of each new page of those working transcripts. These original page numbers have been retained, as they were referred to regularly during the oral evidence sessions.

The Hansard transcripts were prepared at impressive speed, but as a result they contained numerous minor errors; corrections suggested by the four Members are published in the evidence volume and in appendix 7 but the transcripts are published as the Sub-Committee received them. No attempt has been made to correct or edit them, except in respect of limited redactions (for which see below).

The four Sunday Times transcripts were supplied to the Sub-Committee at an early stage by the Sunday Times. They are numbered MST1, MST2 etc for Lord Moonie's Sunday Times transcript; SST1, SST2 etc for Lord Snape's Sunday Times transcript; TrST1, TrST2 etc for Lord Truscott's Sunday Times transcript; and TaST1, TaST2 etc for Lord Taylor's Sunday Times transcript. The Sunday Times described these as "working" and "incomplete" transcripts. We were also informed that their style was to use three full stops (i.e. "…") to show when a word or passage was missing from the transcript, because a word was inaudible or because a passage was excluded as irrelevant.

For the reasons given above, page numbering lines (such as "Sunday Times Lord Moonie page 1 of 18") are reproduced in the published transcript at what was the top of each new page of those transcripts.

The Sunday Times transcripts contain errors and disputed passages; corrections suggested by the four Members are published in the evidence volume. When the Sub-Committee asked the Sunday Times to supply electronic copies of these transcripts for printing, the versions that were sent had been corrected as to spelling and punctuation by Mr Calvert. The Sub-Committee were satisfied that nothing material was altered, so those published are the transcripts which were tidied by Mr Calvert but are otherwise unamended.

The three oral evidence transcripts are numbered MO1, MO2 etc for Lord Moonie's oral evidence; SO1, SO2 etc for Lord Snape's oral evidence; and TrO1, TrO2 etc for Lord Truscott's oral evidence. The statutory declarations made by Lord Taylor and Janet M Robinson are numbered TaD1, TaD2 etc, and are published as received by the Sub-Committee.

Also published with the evidence relating to each Member is the correspondence covering matters of substance between Lord Moonie, Lord Snape, Lord Truscott, Lord Taylor and their representatives, and the Chairman and Clerks of the Sub-Committee, up to 23 April 2009. These pages are numbered MC1, MC2 etc for Lord Moonie's correspondence; SC1, SC2 etc for Lord Snape's correspondence; TrC1, TrC2 etc for Lord Truscott's correspondence; and TaC1, TaC2 etc for Lord Taylor's correspondence. Insignificant administrative correspondence is not included; nor is any correspondence that the four Members did not wish to be published. The correspondence is published as it was sent or received, apart from the limited redactions described below.

Following the evidence relating to the four Members is other relevant written evidence the Sub-Committee received (and related correspondence). These pages are numbered W1, W2 etc. The evidence is published as it was received.

At the back of the evidence volume is the evidence relating to the appeals to the Committee for Privileges, numbered App1, App2 etc.

Redactions

The Sub-Committee has sought to publish all evidence received in the course of the investigation in full. However, material falling into the following categories has been redacted:

(1)  Personal contact details (for instance, telephone numbers, private email addresses, and information on home addresses which is specific enough to allow identification);

(2)  Names or other material relating to third parties, where potentially defamatory or otherwise damaging statements were made about them.

Redactions are indicated by the symbols *** or by sidelining.


 
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