To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if any information on the implementation of the 1958 Anglo-American mutual defence agreement on atomic energy matters has been withheld under sections 3(4) or 5(1) of the Public Records Act 1958; and if he will make a statement on his current policy of withholding archive material.

Atomic records are retained in the Department under section 3(4) of the Public Records Acts 1958 and 1967 with the approval of the Lord Chancellor. It has been the practice of successive Governments not to discuss records that are so withheld from public release.