To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Earl Mountbatten of Burma: Diaries
Monday 4th September 2023

Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 18 July 2023 to Question 193280 on Earl Mountbatten of Burma: Diaries, how much his Department spent on (a) barristers and (b) other lawyers as part of the (i) litigation related to the First-tier Tribunal and (ii) freedom of information requests made by Dr Andrew Lownie on the Mountbatten diaries and letters.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

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.


Written Question
Earl Mountbatten of Burma: Diaries
Monday 17th July 2023

Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on (a) barristers and (b) other lawyers as part of the (i) litigation related to the First-tier Tribunal and (ii) freedom of information requests made by Dr Andrew Lownie on the Mountbatten diaries and letters; and if he will make an estimate of the cost of civil service time spent in handling all aspects of this matter.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

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.


Written Question
Infected Blood Inquiry
Monday 4th July 2022

Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the report by Sir Robert Francis QC on Compensation and Redress for the Victims of Infected Blood - Recommendations for a Framework, published in March 2022, if he will take steps to implement the recommendation in paragraph 9.136 of that report that arrangements should be made immediately through the existing support schemes for an interim lump sum payment of compensation to be made to every living infected person accepted by a support scheme as eligible for annual support payments.

Answered by Michael Ellis

I refer the Rt Hon. member to the answer given to PQ 16932 on 20 June 2022.


Written Question
Veterans: Radiation Exposure
Thursday 19th May 2022

Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Prime Minister's oral contribution of 20 April 2022, Official Report, column 161, what steps he is taking to ensure that surviving nuclear test veterans receive recognition for their service.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

Those who participated in the Nuclear Test Programme made a significant contribution to the safety and security of the UK by ensuring that we were equipped with an appropriate nuclear capability; it is right that their contribution is recognised.

The Prime Minister and I look forward to meeting with representatives of the Nuclear Test Veteran community shortly.


Written Question
Investigation into Alleged Gatherings on Government Premises during Covid Restrictions
Monday 21st February 2022

Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to secure a copy of the full version of the Sue Gray report and publish that report in unredacted form without delay.

Answered by Michael Ellis

I refer the Hon. Member to the Cabinet Office update from the Second Permanent Secretary which has been published on GOV.UK and placed in the Library of the House.

It would not be appropriate for the Government to comment further while the Metropolitan Police Service’s investigation is ongoing. At the end of the process, the Prime Minister will ask the Second Permanent Secretary to update her findings, which will be published in line with the Terms of Reference.


Written Question
Government Departments: Telecommunications
Friday 29th October 2021

Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of arrangements in place permanently to preserve electronic communications, within and between Departments, for purposes of (a) political accountability and (b) the historical record; and what restrictions are currently in place on the use of private communication systems to conduct official business.

Answered by Michael Ellis

Guidance is provided in the Code of Practice on Records Management, issued under Section 46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This was updated and published in July 2021 (as outlined in the Written Statement of 15 July 2021, HCWS185). In 2018, the National Archives was commissioned to undertake a review of the Code. The Code was revised and updated on a principles-based, format-neutral basis, bringing the existing 2009 code up to date with contemporary information management practice and the modern digital working environment.

The Cabinet Office has also previously published guidance on how information is held for the purposes of access to information. Ministers and officials are also given advice on the security of electronic communications. We are keeping this matter under review, to ensure working practices reflect the use of modern technology available in the 21st Century.


Written Question
Weddings: Coronavirus
Thursday 24th June 2021

Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will introduce a scheme to remove the limit for attendees at weddings held indoors, provided that such attendees can produce verifiable evidence that they (a) have twice been vaccinated in time for the vaccine to have fully taken effect or (b) are not infected with covid-19, demonstrated by means of tests the results of which remain valid for the duration of the wedding celebrations.

Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons

From 21 June, there is no longer a maximum number of attendees at weddings set out in law. Instead, the number of attendees at weddings, civil partnerships and receptions will be determined by how many people the venue or space can safely accommodate with social distancing measures in place.

The Government committed to explore whether and how COVID-status certification might be used to reopen our economy, reduce restrictions on social contact and improve safety. As set out in the ‘COVID-19 Response - Spring 2021,’ the Government will set out its conclusions on the COVID-status Certification Review in advance of Step 4 of the Roadmap, in order to inform the safe reopening of society and the economy.

An update on the Roadmap Reviews was published on 5 April and can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-spring-2021-reviews-terms-of-reference/roadmap-reviews-update.


The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster further updated via a Written Ministerial Statement on 29 April 2021, which can be found below: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2021-04-29/hcws947


Written Question
Earl Mountbatten of Burma: Disclosure of Information
Monday 21st June 2021

Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer to Question 11456 of 5 June 2021 on the vetting of Lord and Lady Mountbatten's private diaries prior to access being given to historians, what the source is of the statement that, prior to retiring as Chief of Defence Staff in 1965, Lord Mountbatten accepted that such vetting would apply to private diaries; for what reason those diaries were not vetted prior to being (a) purchased with money from the public purse and (b) transferred to Southampton University; what work his Department carried out to support the release of those diaries to the public in the years prior to Dr Andrew Lownie's Tribunal case in 2020; and what categories of information are capable of being deemed too sensitive for publication (i) 42 years and (ii) 62 years after the deaths of Lord and Lady Mountbatten respectively.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

As the Rt. Hon. Member will be aware, there are several FOI exemptions that remain in place for historic records. As I said in my previous answer, this case is currently before the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights) and it would not be appropriate to make further comment whilst this is subject to ongoing legal proceedings.


Written Question
Earl Mountbatten of Burma: Disclosure of Information
Thursday 10th June 2021

Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 24 May to Question 2854 on the Mountbatten archive, what the terms were of the undertakings given by Lord Mountbatten in 1969 on the publication of the material in the archive; for what reason private diaries and letters that could have been sold on the open market are deemed to be subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000; for what reason the full archive has not been made public a decade after its publicly-funded acquisition by Southampton University; what the timeline is for the publication of that part of the archive that remains currently unpublished; and if he will list the criteria according to which any part of the archive can be deemed to be too sensitive for publication.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Before he retired as Chief of Defence Staff in 1965, the first Earl Mountbatten accepted that personal diaries could not be put into the public domain without first being vetted. Earl Mountbatten made clear that ownership of all of these papers would be handed over to the Broadlands Trustees. In 1969, the Broadlands Trustees entered into undertakings not to give general or particular access to these papers without the express permission of the Prime Minister of the day through the Cabinet Secretary. A copy of the Undertakings is available at the National Archives. In line with this agreement, the Cabinet Office is continuing to work 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.

This case is currently before the Information Tribunal. It would not, therefore, be appropriate to make further comment whilst this is subject to ongoing legal proceedings.


Written Question
Earl Mountbatten of Burma: Disclosure of information
Monday 24th May 2021

Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason his Department has prevented release of Lord Mountbatten’s diaries.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Cabinet Office is working with the University of Southampton to support the release of the Mountbatten archive whilst ensuring sensitive information, including personal data, is handled appropriately and in line with Freedom of Information Act.

Diaries from 1918 to 1934 have already been released. Further volumes will be released in due course as necessary sensitivity work is completed. This is in line with undertakings given by Earl Mountbatten in 1969 on the publication of the archive.