Military Assistance (Foreign Governments) (Hansard, 27 February 1998)

§ Dr. Reid

Military and related police assistance is provided in support of a range of foreign and defence policy aims. It can be an important factor in the development of the United Kingdom's relations with countries in all parts of the world, and can make a significant contribution to regional stability by promoting military effectiveness, which helps to deter aggression. This assistance is a key element of defence diplomacy. All requests for military assistance are considered in the light of the Government's wider foreign policy.

Many foreign governments regard such assistance as contributing to their national Security and are thus sensitive about public disclosure of information about it. Because of this sensitivity it has been the practice of Ministers to decline to answer questions concerning the detail and nature of training assistance. This convention has continued to apply since the introduction of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, which recognises defence, security and international relations as reasons for withholding information.

My Department, in conjunction with the Foreign and Commonwealth office and others, has been considering this practice against the Government's commitment to openness. As a result, my hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and I, have decided that the public interest would be served by greater disclosure of the details of military and related police assistance provided to foreign governments. In future, details of the amount of assistance provided by our Armed Forces will be produced annually and published in my Department's Performance Report, starting with that to be produced following the end of this financial year. These details will include the numbers of overseas personnel trained, by country, the numbers of United Kingdom personnel involved in providing training or assistance overseas, again by country, and levels of any subsidies provided by my Department. My hon. Friend will publish details of the training subsidy programme funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. This information will also be made available to the public on request.

All other requests for information in relation to training and assistance provided will, with immediate effect, be considered on their individual merits, but with a presumption towards disclosure unless this would be against the public interest as governed by the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. In practice it is possible that information may need to be withheld where foreign countries have legitimate security concerns, where our bilateral relations might be damaged or significantly weakened by disclosure, or where disclosure would harm our own national security. We would also not normally intend to make available personal details of students or training personnel, for reasons of personal privacy, or provide information which might threaten the safety of individuals. Where specific harm could be demonstrated by a contractor to his sales prospects as a result of releasing information on military 375W assistance, this would be weighed against the public interest in deciding to what extent disclosure should proceed. But the amount of information withheld will be kept to the minimum.

This new practice represents an appropriate balance between the need to ensure that genuine defence and foreign policy interests are protected, and legitimate Parliamentary and public interest in these matters. It will ensure that significantly more information is available than has previously been the case.

I will be writing to those Members who have been given holding responses to questions about the details of our military assistance programmes while the review has been underway, and will place copies of my letters in the Library of the House.