§ Mr. Richard Pageasked the Minister for the Civil Service if he has anything to add to the answer given by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 21 December 1982, Official Report, c. 503–8, relating to allegations made by Larsen Sweeney Limited against British civil servants.
§ Mr. HayhoeLarsen Sweeney Publications Limited originally sought publicity for allegations of this kind in a press release in September 1982. As my right hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury explained in his answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Scunthorpe (Mr. Brown, on 21 December, the Government immediately approached the firm and asked it to provide the evidence which it said it had, in order that the Government could investigate the allegations and establish the true facts. In subsequent correspondence and interviews the Government repeated this request again and again. In response, Larsen Sweeney Publications Limited has produced denials, excuses, and promises to let the Government see such evidence
as soon as it is available".However, some eight months after its initial press release, the firm has produced not one jot of evidence to substantiate its allegations.