HC Deb 17 April 1996 vol 275 cc530-1W
Mr. Byers

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many files marked "Not for National Audit Office Eyes" are currently held by his Department. [24848]

Mr. Horam

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

The usual practice in the Department is to assign the marking to individual documents rather than to files. Information on the number of documents so marked could be provided only at disproportionate cost.