Official Secrets Act (Hansard, 21 April 1988)

§ 5. Mr. Rooker
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will now announce the date of his White Paper on the reform of section 2 of the Official Secrets Act.

§ Mr. Hurd
I hope to lay a White Paper before Parliament in June, but I cannot yet give a more precise commitment.

§ Mr. Rooker
When the Home Secretary lays the White Paper before the House, will he tell us whether the new official secrets policy will lead to the reopening of the Wormhoudt massacre file, and therefore, it is hoped bringing to account the former Nazi officer, Wilhelm Mohnke of Hamburg, whose address I have supplied to him, having obtained it from the publication World War II Investigator?
Does the Home Secretary accept that the massacre of over 80 unarmed members of the Royal Warwickshire regiment, which happened in 1940, happened as though it was yesterday for the survivors, like my constituent 81-year-old Reg West? Mr. West and the other survivors are still seeking justice for themselves and for their fallen comrades. We owe it to them.

§ Mr. Hurd
The hon. Gentleman was kind enough to give me notice that he was going to raise that point, and I have been in touch with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence, whose records these are. My right hon. Friend has asked me to make it clear that the relevant material, which is in the custody of his Department, is being rigorously re-examined to see whether there is any information which could provide a basis for the kind of action for which the hon. Gentleman is pressing.

§ Mr. Allason
Will my right hon. Friend say whether, with his Cabinet colleagues, he has concluded that judicial review is a good idea in his intended reform of the Official Secrets Act, or whether he is still committed to the 1979 idea of a ministerial certificate that something is secret?

§ Mr. Hurd
My hon. Friend will have to await the White Paper for elucidation of that and other points, but I hope that he will not have long to wait.

§ Mr. Dalyell
Does the Ministry of Defence still think that it has all the relevant records?

§ Mr. Hurd
The hon. Gentleman must address that matter to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence.

§ Mr. Bellingham
When my right hon. Friend reviews the Official Secrets Act, he must obviously investigate the case of the SS general in detail, because it involves the murder of British troops. However, does he agree that we must not start a witch hunt against Germans living in this country? In my constituency, a number of former German prisoners of war have already been the subject of abuse. Does he agree that it is important that we do not start that kind of witch hunt?

§ Mr. Hurd
As I understand it, in the case about which the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Bar (Mr. Rooker) is concerned, there is no jurisdiction in this country. It would be for my right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence, in the light of the examination about which I have already told the hon. Gentleman, to consider whether any representations should be made to the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany. That is where the matter lies.