§ 8. Mr. Liptonasked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty whether the two Departmental committees to investigate security arrangements, which were set up before the Romer Committee was appointed, have now reported; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. C. Ian Orr-EwingAs my noble Friend the First Lord stated in another place on 5th July, he set up an internal Committee to review the organisation for security within the Admiralty. As a result of a report from this Committee he has decided to set up a new Security Department. Some further work remains to be done on details but the Committee's work should be completed before long.
On the same occasion, my noble Friend stated that he had also ordered an examination of the working of the security system both at headquarters and elsewhere. This examination has much ground to cover and will necessarily take longer.
§ Mr. LiptonWill the Minister explain how it is that reports of the activities of these Committees, which are supposed to be confidential, have already been 1217 leaked to the Press before any statement of their work has been made to the House? Does it not appear that something is wrong with the security of the security in the Admiralty? In those circumstances, will he expedite the appointment of a competent and responsible person to do away with all these Committees and to establish some real security in his Department?
§ Mr. Orr-EwingMy noble Friend has shown clearly how seriously we take the mistakes which have occurred in the past. There is no question of leakage; we have announced in another place what action we are taking on the main recommendations of this Committee.