Written question asked by Patsy Calton (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 12 May 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 27 May 2004. It was answered by Geoffrey Hoon (Labour) on Thursday, 27 May 2004 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) instruction and (b) guidance his (i) officials and (ii) Ministers were following prior to the decision not to make the February International Committee of the Red Cross report available to him as soon as it became available to his Department; what (a) written and (b) oral briefing was provided by officials in his Department to inform (i) him and (ii) his Ministers of the contents of the International Committee of the Red Cross report and actions taken (A) as a result of officials having read the report and (B) prior to the full report being made available to him.

Answer: Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what (a) instruction and (b) guidance his (i) officials and (ii) Ministers were following prior to the decision not to make the February International Committee of the Red Cross report available to him as soon as it became available to his Department; [173571] (2) what (a) written and (b) oral briefing was provided by officials in his Department to inform (i) him and (ii) his Ministers of the contents of the International Committee of the Red Cross report and actions taken (A) as a result of officials having read the report and (B) prior to the full report being made available to him. [173576] Mr. Hoon: Ministers were made aware of those issues in the ICRC interim report relating to United Kingdom armed forces five months before they were made aware of the report. Ministers subsequently received an explanation of the handling of the full report over the weekend of 8-9 May 2004. The sequence of events is set out in my reply today to the hon. Member for Mid- Sussex (Mr. Soames).

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 421 c1842-3W; 173571;173576
Session: 2003-04
Subjects: Detainees Iraq Publications Ministry of Defence International Red Cross
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk