00:00The government intends to publish documents in tranches, instead of one publication at the end of the process,
00:05given that we are unable to confirm how long that process will take.
00:09On that basis, the government expects to be able to publish the first tranche of documents very shortly, in early
00:14March.
00:15I should, however, inform the House that it remains the case that a subset of this first tranche of documents
00:20is currently subject to the ongoing Metropolitan Police investigation.
00:24This includes correspondence between No. 10 and Lord Peter Mandelson, in which a number of follow-up questions were asked.
00:32Because of the Metropolitan Police's interest in this document, we are unable to publish it in early March in the
00:38first tranche,
00:39but we'll release it as soon as we're able to do so in consultation with the Metropolitan Police.
00:44There is also a small portion of that material which engages matters of national security or international relations,
00:49and thus the role this House has envisaged for the Intelligence and Security Committee.
00:52We are working with the Committee to establish processes for making this material available to them,
00:57and we're very grateful to the Committee in advance for their important contribution to reviewing these documents.
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