§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list his Department's Internal Histories, indicating which are not due for accelerated release. [86363]
§ Mr. HoonNo comprehensive list exists of internal histories held by the FCO on an ad hoc basis for many years. Those over 30 years old, such as a 1962 study by the Historical Adviser of British Policy in the Relinquishment of Abadan in 1951, have been routinely released to the Public Record Office (FO 370/2694). As part of an open government initiative, the FCO began in 1998 to identify internal histories scattered across the FCO archive and assess them for publication and accelerated release. The first practical result of this initiative will be the publication and release early next year of the report written in 1972 by Sir Con O'Neill on the negotiations for entry into the EEC.
Titles of other internal histories remain classified until proper consideration has been given to their suitability for accelerated release or publication.