Mr. Whiteasked the Minister of Information to what extent the censorship of postal correspondence conducted by his Department includes the disclosure of matter contained therein to Departments or persons other than those charged with executive responsibilities, either civil or military, in the defence of the realm; and by what authority this is done?
§ Mr. ThurtleI would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given on 7th October last to my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth (Sir L. Lyle), the relevant portion of which is as follows
As regards internal mails, censorship is imposed for reasons of operational security only and censors are not authorised to disclose information to other Government Departments except in the case of breaches of operational security. As regards external mails, censors are authorised to disclose the contents of correspondence to other Government Departments in the case of certain clearly defined categories of information necessary for the performance by the Department concerned of its part in the war effort."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 7th October, 1942; col. 1205, Vol. 383.]