§ Mr. Mark RobinsonTo ask the Prime Minister what plans he has to change the vote accounting arrangements for the security and intelligence agencies, following the announcement of the intention to introduce new statutory arrangements for the secret intelligence service and GCHQ.
§ The Prime MinisterAs part of its policy towards greater openness in security and intelligence matters, the Government intend to bring on to a single published vote the aggregate expenditure of all three agencies, much of which, including all the expenditure of GCHQ, has previously been carried on MoD and FCO Votes.
The new single intelligence vote will be fully open to scrutiny by the Comptroller and Auditor General, apart from limited restrictions to protect the identities of certain sources of information and the details of particularly sensitive operations.
The first main estimate for the new vote will cover expenditure in 1994–95, and will be presented to Parliament in March 1994.