HC Deb 24 July 2002 vol 389 cc1319-20W
Mr. Wray

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 21 June 2002,Official Report, column 633W, on Malcolm Rennie/Brian Peters, whether the document that his Department has agreed to publish will include (a) the Department's correspondence with Mr. Rennie's and Mr. Peters' families from 1975 to 1977 and (b) the minutes of the meetings with Mr. Horta in 1976 and Mr. Dunn in 1977. [72574]

Mr. Mike O'Brien

The political files relating to the Indonesian intervention in East Timor and the deaths at Balibo that the FCO will be releasing shortly will includethe minutes of a meeting that an FCO official held with Mr. Horta in February 1976: documents about an approach made to the FCO in 1976 by an MP on behalf of relatives of Malcolm Rennie. I am informed that other correspondence with relatives of Mr. Rennie and Mr. Peters was routinely destroyed after some years in accordance with the usual practice for consular case files.

We were requested to release files from 1975 and 1976 and did not, therefore, intend to release documents from 1977.