§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer to the right hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark) of 10 May 1999,Official Report, column 21, if he will make a statement on the nature of those applications made to his Department for disclosure of information under the open Government Code of Practice on Access to Government Information which were not granted for 1998. [84859]
§ Mr. SpellarFor central monitoring purposes, the total number of applications made under the Code and the number of requests which were refused are collected, but not details of the reasons for non-disclosure of information. This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Each request for information under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information is considered on a case-by-case basis.108W Departmental instructions made it clear that decisions to withhold information must be approved by a member of the Senior Civil Service or equivalent military rank, and that reasons for non-disclosure must be made in terms of the Code's exemptions.