§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will hold an investigation to ascertain how and why full details of his White Paper issued on the afternoon of 18th January regarding savings of moneys under the control of his Department were published in the newspapers issued that morning.
§ Mr. PriorAs I promised in the House on 18th January, I have investigated within my Department the possibility of the premature disclosure of certain information to the Press before the publication on the morning of that day of the White Paper about proposed changes in 79W the work of the Ministry. The nature of the decisions in the White Paper made it necessary to have confidential discussions with a number of organisations in the weeks preceding its publication but following careful inquiries 1 am satisfied that no member of my Department was responsible for any unauthorised disclosures or for providing confidential information to the Press.