§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) whether it is his policy to ensure that documents referred to in parliamentary answers are available via his Department's website; [72293]
(2) for how long he retains documents referred to in parliamentary answers on his Department's website. [72264]
§ Dr. MoonieThe Ministry of Defence aims to be as helpful as possible in responding to hon Members' questions. Where it is appropriate to refer hon Members to other documents as part of the substantive reply, this may be done by making hard copies available in the Libraries of the House, or by reference to material available on the MOD website at http://www.mod.uk. However, some documents referred to in parliamentary answers are published by organisations outside the Department and these will not necessarily be appropriate306W for inclusion on the Department's website. Additionally, not all documents produced by the Department are available electronically.
If a document on the Department's website has been referred to in a parliamentary answer it will generally continue to be available there. Some information of a transitory nature—for example the operational low flying timetable—will be updated periodically, but most reports and policy papers are retained permanently without amendment. Because the structure of the Department's website changes over time, document addresses given in parliamentary answers may also change, but significant documents will almost certainly continue to be available elsewhere on the website.