Brooks receives ministerial apology on A120

Transport Minister Tom Harris MP has given a "full apology" in the House of Commons to Braintree MP Brooks Newmark following the leak of misleading minutes of a meeting between them in November 2007. Transport Minister Tom Harris MP has given a "full apology" in the House of Commons to Braintree MP Brooks Newmark following the leak of misleading minutes of a meeting between them in November 2007.

The meeting took place to discuss the future of the proposed upgrade of the A120 between Braintree and Marks Tey. The leaked minutes wrongly suggested that there was 'broad support' for the proposed southern route of the A120.

Brooks said, "A number of my constituents were rightly angry when the department's minutes leaked out and I immediately challenged their accuracy with the Minister. During our meeting I clearly expressed my objections to the proposed southern route and called for further consultation with residents before a decision is made. At the time the Minister accepted my objection on behalf of residents and promised to undertake further work before contemplating a route announcement, but this was not accurately reflected in the record."

Mr. Newmark immediately wrote to the Minister stating that, "I am happy that the minutes are in the public domain but it is a shame that their release was not first brought to my attention by the Department; as I would have liked the opportunity to review and correct them of inaccuracies before they were published."

Brooks subsequently took the opportunity to raise the accuracy of the minutes with the Speaker in the House of Commons, where he said: "Unfortunately, as the Minister is aware, they misrepresented the position that I have always taken on the issue: to oppose the preferred southern route. Indeed, the minutes implied that locally there was a broad consensus in support of the route, although the opposite is true."

The Minister replied that, "The hon. Gentleman has raised an entirely legitimate concern. He has not been well served by the internal processes at the Department for Transport and at the Highways Agency. As the Minister to whom the agency is accountable, I offer him a full apology. I accept full responsibility for what has happened. I assure him that the record to which he has referred will be corrected as a matter of urgency."

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Mr. Brooks Newmark (Braintree) (Con): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I recently attended a meeting with a Minister in the Department for Transport on the proposed upgrade of the A120 in my constituency. The departmental minutes of that meeting were subsequently leaked before I had seen or corrected them. Unfortunately, as the Minister is aware, they misrepresented the position that I have always taken on the issue: to oppose the preferred southern route. Indeed, the minutes implied that locally there was a broad consensus in support of the route, although the opposite is true.

Can you, Mr. Speaker, advise me on how I can hold the Department to account for that misrepresentation, given that my views on the scheme, and those of local people likely to be affected by it, have been a matter of parliamentary record since I raised them in an Adjournment debate on 20 January 2006?

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Tom Harris): Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. The hon. Gentleman has raised an entirely legitimate concern. He has not been well served by the internal processes at the Department for Transport and at the Highways Agency. As the Minister to whom the agency is accountable, I offer him a full apology. I accept full responsibility for what has happened. I assure him that the record to which he has referred will be corrected as a matter of urgency.

Mr. Speaker: The Minister has been kind enough to clarify the matter. I hope that all future meetings between hon. Members and Ministers will be kept confidential; only with the consent of both parties should anything about such meetings be made public.