§ Lord Tebbitasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Macdonald of Tradeston on 11 June (WA 33–4) which declined to give precedents for the use of the Prime Ministerial apartments in No. 10 Downing Street by wives of Prime Ministers for meetings with 164WA their business clients on the ground that "Ministers of this Government are not accountable for what happened under previous administrations" and further to the Written Answer by the Lord Privy Seal on 27 June (WA 160) which gave precedents from former administrations in stating why they do not make it a practice to publish formal details of Cabinet meetings on a systematic basis, whether they would now clarify their answers so as to achieve consistency. [HL5026]
§ Lord Williams of MostynGuidance on Ministers' accountability for events under a previous administration is set out in Volume 2 of theDirectory of Civil Service Guidance, copies of which are in the Library of the House. The practice under successive administrations of not providing formal details of Cabinet meetings on a systematic basis is a matter of public record and is set out in the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information and the Guidance on its Interpretation.