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Revenue and Customs: Data Loss

My Lords, of course Ministers are answerable to Parliament. I am grateful that the noble Viscount expressed the point in such a courteous way. He will appreciate that in circumstances where we had both a police investigation going on and an interim report being prepared for presentation to another place today, in answering his questions earlier in the week I was necessarily circumscribed in the information I could give until the interim report had been published. I entirely subscribe to his viewpoint. It is an obligation on the Government to answer questions as clearly and as accurately as possible. The Treasury has an excellent record in this regard; it is one of the promptest departments in responding to questions. I shall try to keep my side of the bargain in terms of prompt answers, but there are times when we are somewhat circumscribed by other inquiries going on. The noble Viscount was asking questions which were clearly identified within the areas of the report and he will appreciate that we needed today’s announcement of the interim report before I could respond to him fully.