§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list those categories of information withheld from the Public Accounts Committee by his Department on the grounds of (i) commercial confidentiality or (ii) military sensitivity.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThe Ministry of Defence does not withhold information from the Public Accounts Committee on the grounds of commercial confidentiality or security classification, except where there is a requirement to protect the confidences of other Governments, or under the established arrangement by which the Department informs the National Audit Office, but not the Public Accounts Committee, of any projects which, but for their high security classification, would have been included in the Department's annual statement on major projects. Parliament was informed of this arrangement on 2 February 1987 (Official Report, column 517); and it is further described in a memorandum by the Comptroller and Auditor General which was published with the Committee's 47th report of Session 1987–88 (HC 371).