Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any files were taken from the journalist Don Hale, editor of the Bury Messenger in the 1980s; who authorised the seizure of such files; and whether the material seized included minutes of investigations within the Home Office concerning child abuse and hon. Members.

On 7 July the Home Secretary announced to the House that she had appointed Peter Wanless to lead a Review of an investigation by an independent expert into what information the Home Office had received in relation to child abuse allegations during the period 1979 and 1999.

The Permanent Secretary appointed Richard Whittam QC to assist in this task. The Review has had access to all material identified which would relate to child abuse and which the Department still holds. The Home Secretary has now received the report of the Review and is considering its findings ahead of the full report being published.