§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Defence in what circumstances in the Royal Navy officers' and ratings' mail is censored.
§ Mr. WigginPrivate mail from Royal Navy personnel may be subject to censorship in times of conflict in the interests of operational security and of minimising the risks to those involved. In addition, the mail of personnel serving sentences of detention may be subject to censorship.
In my answer to the hon. Member on 10 November, I said that private mail was not subject to censorship during the Falklands campaign. It has since emerged that censorship was in fact imposed in one ship of the task 362W force, for less than a week. This was in order to protect information, leakage of which would have put lives at risk and prejudiced the success of the operation. I regret that the previous answer, which was given in good faith, was incomplete.