HC Deb 15 March 1967 vol 743 cc114-5W
Mr. Powell

asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the circumstances in which confidential Ministry of Defence (Army) documents were recently found in a public place in Greenwich.

Mr. Healey

There are separate arrangements for the disposal of classified waste on the one hand and unclassified waste on the other. In this instance a number of documents which, although out of date and of marginal security interest, were still classified Confidential, were erroneously included in a batch of unclassified waste and collected for disposal by Messrs. Maybanks of Greenwich. It has been established that all these documents have been recovered.

Contrary to the allegation that they were found in a public place, they were in fact unlawfully removed from a sheeted and roped lorry on the private premises of Messrs. Maybanks.