Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 20 November 2008, Official Report, column 748W, on Diego Garcia: detainees, how often and for what purpose UK officials visited the US detention facility on Diego Garcia when it was operational.

It is entirely possible that UK military personnel visited the building in which the holding cells were located during the course of their normal duties, given the fact that Diego Garcia is a joint military facility, and the building was accessible to UK personnel. The US have told us that, when the holding cells were operational, they held US military personnel in accordance with the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice. No records were kept of any possible UK visits to the cells.