§ Lord Lairdasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord President on 10 November (WA 154), who has custody of the archives of the Patten Commission on policing; whether those archives contain the legal opinion referred to in paragraph 15:11 of the Patten report; whether the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has a copy of the legal opinion; and whether they will consider placing a copy of the legal opinion in the Library of the House. [HL223]
§ The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos)I am advised that many of the documents of the Independent Commission on Policing were destroyed by the commission after it had concluded its work. I am given to understand that this would have included the legal opinion referred to. As an independent body it was for the commission to decide what to do with its papers.
The limited papers that the Government have kept are those financial records pertaining to the running of the commission and formal submissions from organisations to the commission including those made at public sessions. Individual submissions were destroyed, as the commission believed these to be confidential. Copies of public reports that were either given to or commissioned by the independent body were handed to the Linenhall Library in Belfast.