§ Mr. HawkinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 7 March 2000,Official Report, column 638W, and his oral answers of 21 February 2000, Official Report, column 1219 and 24 January 2000, Official Report, column 10, concerning future use of MOD property, what the relationship is between the confidentiality requested by developers and the requirement to provide information to local and national elected representatives. [114417]
§ Dr. Moonie[holding answer 13 March 2000]: There is no relationship between the confidentiality requested by developers and the requirement to provide information to local and national elected representatives.
It is my Department's policy to inform all purchasers of surplus Ministry of Defence property that the final sale price will be made known to any party who requests that information. A purchaser can, however, refuse consent to the sale price being made public on the grounds of commercial confidentiality and in these instances exemption 7 of the Code on Access to Government Information is invoked.
Discussions on the future use of MOD property take place with local authorities at a much earlier stage and I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for the Armed Forces on 24 January 2000, Official Report, column 60W, on this point. If a purchaser subsequently refuses consent for the final sale price to be made public, this does not affect these early discussions in any way.