Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord True on 12 November (HL9797), whether CAB93/7 contains any records relating to the loss of HMS Dasher; whether (1) the Cabinet Office, or (2) the Prime Minister’s Office, hold any other records concerning HMS Dasher; and if so, whether any of these records are publicly available.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Cabinet Office (which includes the Prime Minister’s Office) does not hold any records on HMS Dasher or Operation Mincemeat. In line with standard practice, historic records are transferred to The National Archives. A number of files relating to both HMS Dasher and Operation Mincemeat are held by The National Archives, including under references CAB 154/66; CAB 154/112; CAB 79/60/18; CAB 79/60/20; CAB 79/60/24; CAB 79/60/26; CAB 79/60/27; and CAB 146/442.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the files 'CAB93/7' relating to Operation Mincemeat are (1) still held in 10 Downing Street, (2) available for viewing, and (3) if so, under what conditions.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Cabinet Office holds the original CAB 93/7, it contains no material related to Operation Mincemeat. A version is held by The National Archives (TNA). Consultation of the volume held by TNA would need to be made by appointment, a service currently suspended owing to national restrictions. Details of how to arrange a visit are available here: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/visit-us/
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the EU on access to Galileo as part of negotiations on the future UK–EU relationship.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The UK and the EU discussed the Galileo programme during the Withdrawal Agreement negotiations. The EU’s offer then on Galileo did not meet the UK’s defence and industrial requirements.
Asked by: Lord West of Spithead (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 13 May (HL3564), whether any single authority or body was responsible for monitoring and assessing individual departmental plans to ascertain the level of national readiness for a pandemic; and if not, why not.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
Planning for a pandemic inevitably engages the work of many different departments. Each department is responsible for ensuring its own preparedness, and that of its relevant sectors, to manage the impacts of a pandemic. The Cabinet Office's role includes coordinating the regular assessment of the UK’s overall risk landscape for both internal and public purposes, the Resilience Capabilities Programme, managing central government response including by convening COBR, providing crisis management training through the Emergency Planning College, and working with Departments to test emergency response plans.