§ LORD DAVIESMy Lords, I beg to ask the second question standing on the Paper in my name.
§ [The question was as follows:
§ To ask His Majesty's Government, when the practice of issuing a weekly political intelligence summary by the Foreign Office to the Higher Commands of the Armed Forces was instituted; whether the summaries contain any information likely to be of use to the enemy and, if not, why it is considered to be in the public interest that these political and objective summaries should not be made available to Members of Parliament of both Houses.]
§ LORD SNELLMy Lords, the issue of the Foreign Office Weekly Political Intelligence Summary to the Higher Commands dates from 15th April, 1940. The purpose is to keep them informed of the latest political developments and to provide them with a reasoned analysis of those developments prepared by experts. Much of the information contained in the summaries is of a strictly confidential nature and would certainly be of use to the enemy.