§ Dr. Julian LewisTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what inquiries his Department has conducted into alleged leaks from members of staff since 1997; and on what occasions the names of those persons accused of leaking information from his Department have been made public(a) by the Government and (b) by way of another source. [147007]
§ Mr. Hoon[holding answer 12 January 2004]: Since 1997, the Ministry of Defence has investigated 47 suspected leaks. In line with exemptions 1(a) and 7(b) set out in Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, it has been the practice of successive Governments not to comment on the outcome of such inquiries in order to safeguard security and investigative arrangements.