Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the comment by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 1 July (HL Deb, col 1709) that he still held the opinion that the Franks inquiry on the Falklands War was not entirely thorough or rigorous, whether in making that comment he was speaking in a personal or ministerial capacity.

I have recently responded to two debates on the Chilcot Inquiry in my Ministerial capacity. In the course of both, I drew a comparison between the Chilcot Inquiry and the Franks Inquiry, simply to note the information available to the Chairmen of those Inquiries, the significant difference in their scope, including the giving of evidence in public. Both are important Inquiries for the public record, establishing events and learning any lessons. In addition, I offered a personal reflection on the Franks Inquiry [based on my previous work in this area].