§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence in response to how many parliamentary written questions during the 2002–03 session he has decided to withhold information under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information; and what percentage of written questions asked this constitutes. [119104]
§ Mr. Caplin[holding answer 13 June 2003]: During the current session 3,160 parliamentary written questions have been tabled to the Ministry of Defence. From the information available on our database, information was withheld in 142 questions under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. This is equivalent to 4 per cent. In some instances a Code exemption will have been cited to withhold only part of the information requested.
The hon. Member will be aware that the Select Committee on Public Administration publish this information in their report 'Ministerial Accountability and Parliamentary Questions'. Their last report was published on 13 December 2000 for Session 2000–01.
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