HC Deb 29 November 1993 vol 233 cc345-6W
Mr. Alan Williams

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many files marked "Not for National Audit Office eyes" are held by his Department; and how many are marked "Not for Public Accounts Committee eyes".

Mr. Norris

There are 684 files in my Department—out of a total of 1,331,002—marked "Not to be seen by NAO without reference to the appropriate Head of Division", sometimes abbreviated to "Not for NAO eyes". These figures refer to individual jackets—file parts. For each NAO study, a number of divisions in different locations may be involved and each may possess a file with a number of parts.

The marking "Not for NAO eyes" is used in accordance with an agreement between the Treasury and the National Audit Office, under which documents relating to the handling of relations between Departments and the NAO and PAC are not automatically available to the NAO while they are current.

There is no marking "Not for PAC eyes".