§ Mr. DenhamTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on how many occasions since 1979 his Department has engaged private detective agencies to investigate the activities of British citizens; and if he will list the date and purpose of each investigation.
§ Mr. CurryNone. The only use of such agencies by the Department since 1979 has been for the purpose of tracing debtors. Such use ceased in 1987. Information as to the dates and cases is not available centrally and its extraction from the files would be disproportionate in time and resources.