To ask the President of the Board of Trade under what circumstances it is her Department's policy to make announcements to the media prior to informing Parliament. [16966]

It is the Department's policy, as far as practicable, to inform Parliament of major policy decisions before making announcements to the media.Some announcements are market sensitive, and there is a need to ensure that the information reaches the market in an orderly fashion. The contents of MMC monopoly and merger reports and my decisions on them are, for example, market sensitive. My normal practice is to announce my decision to the market at the same time as the report is published and laid in Parliament.