§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many answers to parliamentary questions have not been answered by his Department under exemption 13 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information in each year since 1994. [29419]
§ Mr. StrawWe do not keep separate records of answers that refer to the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. To answer this question would entail checking every answer from FCO Ministers since 1994, which could only be done at disproportionate cost
The Public Administration Committee's Fourth Report on Ministerial Accountability and Parliamentary Questions published on 10 November 1999 (HC 821) includes at Memorandum 7 a list of answers provided by the FCO during Parliamentary Session 1997 to 1998 which referred to the Code of Practice. None referred to Exemption 13 of the Code. The Committee's Fourth Report published on 13 December 2000 (HC 61) lists answers provided for the 1998 to 1999 Session. Five questions answered by the FCO refer to Exemption 13. (Memorandum 6.)
The Committee has not yet published a report covering the 1999 to 2000 Session. Two answers from the FCO in that Session referred to Exemption 13 of the Code of Practice.