§ 30. Mr. George Cunninghamasked the Minister for Overseas Development if he will state the inter-Departmental committees on which the Overseas Development administration of the Foreign Office is separately represented.
§ The Minister for Overseas Development (Mr. Richard Wood)No, Sir. It has for a long time been the practice not to disclose details of this kind.
§ Mr. CunninghamNoting that the practice of secrecy in Cabinet Committees has no logical justification, and in any case has been breached in the past on 38 some security-associated committees, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman to confirm that in those committees on which he and his sub-department are represented he will be able to express a view different from that expressed by the main stream of the Foreign Office, and that he will not be under any compulsion?
§ Mr. WoodI told the hon. Gentleman last month that the Overseas Development administration would be represented on inter-Departmental committees. That is the position; and I cannot go further than that.