§ Mr. Sedgemoreasked the Lord President of the Council (1) if, in the light of the Prime Minister's statement in the House on 23rd March, Liberal spokesmen are to have access to restricted, confidential, secret and top secret documents and papers; and if this policy will apply to defence secrets;
(2) if, in the light of the Prime Minister's statement in the House on 23rd March, Liberal spokesmen are to be allowed to participate in decisions which would normally be classified as confidential or secret;
(3) if, in the light of the Prime Minister's statement in the House on 23rd March, Liberal spokesmen with official access to Government Departments will 206W be positively vetted or otherwise scrutinised.
§ Mr. FootInformation will be made available to the extent necessary to make consultations effective, but classified information not intended for publication will be made available only on Privy Counsellor terms.
§ Mr. Sedgemoreasked the Lord President of the Council if, in the light of the Prime Minister's statement in the House on 23rd March, Liberal spokesmen will be issued with passes to Government Departments.
§ Mr. Sedgemoreasked the Lord President of the Council (1) if, in the light of the Prime Minister's statement in the House on 23rd March, Liberal spokesmen will be allowed direct access to civil servants and Government Departments;
(2) if, in the light of the Prime Minister's statement to the House on 23rd March, Liberal spokesmen will be allowed to submit papers to Government Departments; and, if so, to whom in these Departments, or to Cabinet and Cabinet Sub-Committees and to official committees.
§ Mr. Sedgemoreasked the Lord President of the Council if, in the light of the Prime Minister's statement to the House on 23rd March, departmental Ministers will be invited to make representations to the Consultative Committee in cases where Liberal spokesmen feel they are not being properly consulted.
§ Mr. FootI would refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Surrey, North-West (Mr. Grylls) on 28th March.—[Vol. 929, c.34.]
§ Mr. Sedgemoreasked the Lord President of the Council (1) in the light of the Prime Minister's statement to the House on 23rd March, who will bear the cost of servicing the consultative committee;
(2) if, in the light of the Prime Minister's statement to the House on 23rd 207W March, civil servants will service the consultative committee; and, if so, how they will be selected and on which parliamentary Votes their salaries will be borne.
§ Mr. FootThe consultative committee will be serviced by my office. There will be no additional salary costs.