Whether or not a public authority holds information for the purposes of Section 3(2) of the Freedom of Information Act is assessed on a case-by-case basis. This is considered with reference to the Code of Practice issued under section 45 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and the guidance published by the Information Commissioner. This has been the practice under successive governments.

Details of official meetings held in a ministerial capacity with external organisations or individuals are declared quarterly on GOV.UK. Party political meetings and events are a matter for the Labour Party.

The Cabinet Office has not issued guidance on whether party political events held in Ministerial diaries are held for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act.

The Department keeps, and archives, Ministerial diaries in line with the published guidance.

I refer the Hon. Member to my response to UIN 16454 on 6th March 2024.

I refer the Hon. Member to my response to UIN 16454 on 6th March 2024.

I refer the Hon. Member to my response to UIN 16454 on 6th March 2024.

Ministers regularly meet with departmental officials and external stakeholders. Details of Ministerial meetings with external organisations and individuals are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.

The Cabinet Office has worked with the University of Southampton to support the release of the Mountbatten archive, whilst ensuring sensitive and official information is handled appropriately and in line with the Freedom of Information Act and Data Protection Act. Dr Lownie lost his appeal against the Cabinet Office, but continued to seek costs in a separate application. This application was rejected by the First Tier Tribunal and permission to appeal at the Upper Tribunal was also rejected.

The final legal costs relating to the First Tier Tribunal hearings and associated litigation regarding this archive are £180,454. This relates to 5 appeals EA/2020/0021, EA/2020/0026, EA/2020/0058, EA/2020/0059 and EA/2021/0125 as well as a further 5 related appeals and application to seek costs including UA-2022-001422, 001425, 001427, 001428 and 001429-GIA. These costs include those incurred by the Cabinet Office for external legal counsel and work by the Government Legal Department.

The cost of officials’ time, including Cabinet Office legal advisers’, is not recorded against each Freedom of Information request.

To provide this information would exceed the threshold and incur a disproportionate cost to the Cabinet Office. Civil servants do not record the proportion of time that they spend on individual matters, and cover a range of responsibilities, including Freedom of Information and litigation.

I thank the Rt Hon Lady for her questions. I appreciate the Rt Hon Lady has also raised related issues in business questions and in a point of order.

I initially made a statement on the infected blood scandal to the House on 15 December in which on behalf of the Government I accepted that there is a moral case for compensation to be paid.

I followed this up by meeting victims of the scandal on 7 March. I am most grateful to the APPG, with the Rt Hon Lady and the Father of the House in the Chair, for facilitating this meeting.

At a very early date after the publication of Sir Brian Langstaff’s Second Interim Report, I came to the House to make a further statement on 19 April to give Rt Hon and Hon Members the opportunity to react to the report and ask questions of the Government.

I wrote to the Rt Hon Lady following publication of the report setting out that I looked forward to further engagement.

I made clear in my statement that I was open to further meetings with the victims of this scandal while we progress the work required to respond to Sir Brian.

I would like to assure the Rt Hon Lady, as I made clear in the statement, of my determination to progress this issue and respond as swiftly as possible. Work continues on the formulation of policy to achieve this objective, including ministerial level meetings chaired by me as sponsor minister for the Inquiry. As is usual, I do not intend to publish details of internal government meetings conducted to inform policy decisions.

On the specific issue of the Devolved Administrations and as I set out in my answer to PQ181290, PQ181291, PQ181293 and PQ181294, we worked closely with the Devolved Administrations to achieve the successful payment of interim compensation to infected victims. Liaison has continued since then at official level.

I anticipated meeting Ministers in the Devolved Administrations following the publication of the Second Interim Report, and I look forward to doing so and hearing their input towards our consideration of the Report. However, I would draw the Rt Hon Lady’s attention to the fact that both Sir Robert Francis and Sir Brian Langstaff recommend a compensation scheme established and funded by the Government of the United Kingdom.

It is also the case, as I said in my statement of 19 April, that Sir Brian differs significantly from Sir Robert in recommending a single UK scheme whereas Sir Robert recommended the utilisation of the existing payment structures operated, inter alia, by the Devolved Administrations. The Rt Hon Lady will appreciate that on this as in many areas of Sir Brian’s Second Interim Report there are significant policy issues that need to be considered by the UK Government as we formulate our response, on which we are working at pace.

I thank the Rt Hon Lady for her questions. I appreciate the Rt Hon Lady has also raised related issues in business questions and in a point of order.

I initially made a statement on the infected blood scandal to the House on 15 December in which on behalf of the Government I accepted that there is a moral case for compensation to be paid.

I followed this up by meeting victims of the scandal on 7 March. I am most grateful to the APPG, with the Rt Hon Lady and the Father of the House in the Chair, for facilitating this meeting.

At a very early date after the publication of Sir Brian Langstaff’s Second Interim Report, I came to the House to make a further statement on 19 April to give Rt Hon and Hon Members the opportunity to react to the report and ask questions of the Government.

I wrote to the Rt Hon Lady following publication of the report setting out that I looked forward to further engagement.

I made clear in my statement that I was open to further meetings with the victims of this scandal while we progress the work required to respond to Sir Brian.

I would like to assure the Rt Hon Lady, as I made clear in the statement, of my determination to progress this issue and respond as swiftly as possible. Work continues on the formulation of policy to achieve this objective, including ministerial level meetings chaired by me as sponsor minister for the Inquiry. As is usual, I do not intend to publish details of internal government meetings conducted to inform policy decisions.

On the specific issue of the Devolved Administrations and as I set out in my answer to PQ181290, PQ181291, PQ181293 and PQ181294, we worked closely with the Devolved Administrations to achieve the successful payment of interim compensation to infected victims. Liaison has continued since then at official level.

I anticipated meeting Ministers in the Devolved Administrations following the publication of the Second Interim Report, and I look forward to doing so and hearing their input towards our consideration of the Report. However, I would draw the Rt Hon Lady’s attention to the fact that both Sir Robert Francis and Sir Brian Langstaff recommend a compensation scheme established and funded by the Government of the United Kingdom.

It is also the case, as I said in my statement of 19 April, that Sir Brian differs significantly from Sir Robert in recommending a single UK scheme whereas Sir Robert recommended the utilisation of the existing payment structures operated, inter alia, by the Devolved Administrations. The Rt Hon Lady will appreciate that on this as in many areas of Sir Brian’s Second Interim Report there are significant policy issues that need to be considered by the UK Government as we formulate our response, on which we are working at pace.

I thank the Rt Hon Lady for her questions. I appreciate the Rt Hon Lady has also raised related issues in business questions and in a point of order.

I initially made a statement on the infected blood scandal to the House on 15 December in which on behalf of the Government I accepted that there is a moral case for compensation to be paid.

I followed this up by meeting victims of the scandal on 7 March. I am most grateful to the APPG, with the Rt Hon Lady and the Father of the House in the Chair, for facilitating this meeting.

At a very early date after the publication of Sir Brian Langstaff’s Second Interim Report, I came to the House to make a further statement on 19 April to give Rt Hon and Hon Members the opportunity to react to the report and ask questions of the Government.

I wrote to the Rt Hon Lady following publication of the report setting out that I looked forward to further engagement.

I made clear in my statement that I was open to further meetings with the victims of this scandal while we progress the work required to respond to Sir Brian.

I would like to assure the Rt Hon Lady, as I made clear in the statement, of my determination to progress this issue and respond as swiftly as possible. Work continues on the formulation of policy to achieve this objective, including ministerial level meetings chaired by me as sponsor minister for the Inquiry. As is usual, I do not intend to publish details of internal government meetings conducted to inform policy decisions.

On the specific issue of the Devolved Administrations and as I set out in my answer to PQ181290, PQ181291, PQ181293 and PQ181294, we worked closely with the Devolved Administrations to achieve the successful payment of interim compensation to infected victims. Liaison has continued since then at official level.

I anticipated meeting Ministers in the Devolved Administrations following the publication of the Second Interim Report, and I look forward to doing so and hearing their input towards our consideration of the Report. However, I would draw the Rt Hon Lady’s attention to the fact that both Sir Robert Francis and Sir Brian Langstaff recommend a compensation scheme established and funded by the Government of the United Kingdom.

It is also the case, as I said in my statement of 19 April, that Sir Brian differs significantly from Sir Robert in recommending a single UK scheme whereas Sir Robert recommended the utilisation of the existing payment structures operated, inter alia, by the Devolved Administrations. The Rt Hon Lady will appreciate that on this as in many areas of Sir Brian’s Second Interim Report there are significant policy issues that need to be considered by the UK Government as we formulate our response, on which we are working at pace.

Ministers regularly meet with departmental officials and external stakeholders. As is precedent, details of Ministerial meetings with external organisations and individuals are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.

I refer the Rt hon. Member to the response I gave to the hon. Member for Vale of Clwyd at Prime Minister’s Questions on 12 January 2022 (Hansard Volume 706, Column 562).

In addition to answering Prime Minister’s Questions on that day in May (Hansard Volume 676, Column 565), I also had an audience with Her Majesty the Queen as recorded in the Court Circular.

I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. I also held a roundtable to discuss the supermarket sector's ongoing role in the COVID-19 response, as recorded in the government’s transparency data.

Ministers regularly meet with departmental officials and external stakeholders. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found on GOV.UK.

Ministers regularly meet with departmental officials and external stakeholders. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found on GOV.UK.

Ministers regularly meet with departmental officials and external stakeholders. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found on GOV.UK.

Ministers regularly meet with departmental officials and external stakeholders. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found on GOV.UK.