§ Lord Jenkins of Putneyasked Her Majesty's Government:
How often the Security Council has met in secret and what were the dates and the reasons given for meeting in camera.
§ Lord ReayThe Security Council meets in private whenever discussing or deciding upon any recommendation to the General Assembly regarding the appointment of the Secretary-General. It also meets in private to discuss drafts of its annual report. Apart from these meetings, another 14 Security Council meetings have been held in private up to 23rd February 1991. The Council met on six occasions between 20th June 1947 and 9th March 1948 to discuss the appointment of a Governor to the Free Territory of Trieste, on three occasions between 9th-12th October 1956 to discuss the Suez Canal, on 21st October 1970 in the form of a private meeting of Foreign Ministers held under Article 28(ii) of the UN Charter, on 15th December 1973 to discuss a Middle East Peace Conference, on 24th July 1974 to discuss Cyprus, and on 6th November 1975 to discuss Western Sahara. A private meeting to discuss the48WA situation between Iraq and Kuwait began on 14th February (when the Council agreed to limit attendance at the meetings to all UN delegations).