Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether existing Invitation to Negotiate arrangements in the contracts awarded by his Department purport to prohibit contracting organisations from engaging with parliamentary select committees.

It is Ministry of Defence policy to use standard contract conditions to prevent the unauthorised disclosure of information for a variety of reasons, including protection of national security, commercial confidentiality and personal data, and for there to be obligations on confidentiality in our invitations to tender. However, there is nothing in the standard commercial policy or processes that prohibits contracting organisations from engaging with parliamentary select committees.

If a committee requested information, the disclosure of which might be prohibited under contractual arrangements, this would require careful consideration on a case-by-case basis.