Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Cheryl Gillan (Conservative). It was answered on Wednesday, 26 March 2008 on behalf of the Welsh Grand Committee.

Devolution

Question: On the answer that the Secretary of State gave me earlier, how could making the correspondence available possibly impede his ability to do business with the Welsh Assembly Government? After all, both ends of the equation are familiar with the correspondence. Is it not the truth that the correspondence is being hidden from every member of the Committee, every Member of the House and every Member of the Welsh Assembly who is not in the Government in Cardiff bay? I think that it is wrong to conceal from us correspondence about the way in which we legislate for Wales. I ask the Secretary of State to look again at the answer that he gave me and to consider the answer that was given by the Welsh Assembly Government that it was against public interest to reveal the correspondence. Will he please talk to his officials? To conceal correspondence on the legislative processes for Wales is not good enough.

Answer: The hon. Lady knows that there are many examples in Government where we cannot reveal all the correspondence simply because it is in the public interest.

Secondary information