§ 2.45 p.m.
§ Lord Jenkins of PutneyMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government how many copies of the Ordnance Survey map of the Falkland Islands were ordered by the Argentine Embassy towards the end of last year and how many were supplied.
§ Lord SkelmersdaleNone, my Lords. There are no Ordnance Survey maps of the Falkland Islands.
§ Lord Jenkins of PutneyMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that, although I may have misdescribed the maps, the sole means of obtaining geographical and other information, and indeed, nautical information, about the Falkland Islands rests in the hands of Her Majesty's Government, including all the nautical 1237 maps of the area; and that whatever information the Argentine forces obtained about the Falkland Islands was obtained from Her Majesty's Government?
§ Lord SkelmersdaleMy Lords, I was not meaning to imply that there were no British-published and British designed maps. I was trying to answer the Question on the Order Paper—which I think I probably did. The overseas directorate of the ODA publishes maps. Copies of these maps were found as a result of the Argentine invasion and, obviously, had been used. However, these were not the kind of topographical maps referred to in the Question. These were basically tourist maps which had been supplied to the Falkland Islands Government as long ago as 1966. It would be hardly surprising if there were not various maps around on the islands at that time.
§ Lord Jenkins of PutneyMy Lords, is it not the case that, although the nomenclature was wrong, the reality of the Question was right?
§ Lord Jenkins of PutneyMy Lords, I think that the noble Lord was rather sheltering behind what was perhaps an error of wording in seeking to avoid the fact that it is the case that a large quantity of maps of strategic and tactical importance to the Argentine forces were supplied, not directly, but indirectly, by Her Majesty's Government a short time before the invasion. Is that not the case?
§ Lord SkelmersdaleMy Lords, no, as I thought I had explained already to the noble Lord. I answered his Question. I also answered his supplementary question which, I agree, elicited slightly different facts. Nevertheless, I maintain that both answers stand on the record. The Directorate of Overseas Surveys have examined the statistics of sales of Falkland Islands maps over the last 10 years and can detect no large-scale sale of them to any purchaser in 1981 or 1982. Maps of the Falkland Islands of British origin were captured from the Argentine military during the repossession of the islands, but these maps had been reprinted in Argentina—in breach, incidentally, of international copyright.
§ Lord BeswickMy Lords, would it not have been in keeping with the traditions and courtesies of the House if the noble Lord had given some of the information contained in his answer to the supplementary question in his initial reply?
§ Lord SkelmersdaleNo, my Lords, I should have thought that it was in the traditions of the House for the Minister, so long as he was answering the Question, to answer in his own way.