TNAG-1838-FCO40-2613-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1989 — Page 84

VOLUME 5

CONFIDENTIAL

ANNEX 14

DISCLOSURE OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION TO SELECT COMMITTEES AND TO INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT

1. a) Any information classified SECRET or TOP SECRET which is disclosed should be restricted to those persons to whom the department has agreed to release it: in practice this would mean only the members of the Select Committee or Sub-Committee concerned and, in the case of a Sub-Committee, the Chairman of the main Committee. Information classified CONFIDENTIAL or RESTRICTED should be similarly restricted, except that when it has been disclosed to members of Sub- Committees it may also be made available to the main Committee concerned.

b) Notwithstanding these restrictions, classified information may be disclosed to Specialist Advisers who have been security cleared in accordance with arrangements agreed with the Clerk of the House.

c) The PUS should be consulted before SECRET or TOP SECRET material is released to Select Committees. The release of TOP SECRET information under these arrangements to members of Select Committees is subject to the approval of the responsible Minister in each case.

2.

Classified memoranda or classified annexes to memoranda should be made available to members only during Committee or Sub-Committee meetings and on request in the Committee Office. Members are not free to take classified documents away with them.

3.

Classified portions of oral evidence should be sidelined by the witness in the shorthand writer's transcript following the procedure set down in sub-paragraph 46a of the Memorandum of Guidance for Officials (Chapter 8.4), and then excised by the Committee before the evidence is printed in proof form and distributed to Committee members. The full record will be retained in the Committee Office for perusal there by members authorised to have access to it in accordance with paragraph 1. However, the final authority as to whether or not evidence shall be published rests with the Committee, and paragraph 43 of the Memorandum of Guidance reminds Departments to bear this in mind.

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT

As a general rule, Members of Parliament acting in connection with their Parliamentary duties should not be allowed access to information graded higher than RESTRICTED,

4.

November 1986

113 CONFIDENTIAL