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Immediately following receipt of your letter, I instructed our lawyers Simmons & Simmons to consider the most appropriate way of providing you with documents in an electronically readable form. You will appreciate from my letter of 10 January 2000 that, from their review of our files up to 1995, Simmons & Simmons identified approximately 3.2 million pages of paper which might, in the broadest sense, be potentially relevant to issues that have arisen or might in the future arise in smoking and health litigation. . .
Simmons & Simmons will be delivering 16 CD roms to your offices containing the Gallaher documents that were provided by Leigh, Day & Co prior to the abandonment of that litigation by Mr Day's clients. . .
Simmons & Simmons is arranging for a set of non-encrypted CDs to be produced for your use. All that will be required to review the documents will be software capable of reading images in a "tiff" format, such as WangImage, which I am told is bundled with Windows98.
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The Synergy sample defines adults as 15+ simply because that is the way TGI defines the common research audience, which is at the heart of both surveys.
Much as I described to you in my memo about TGI, Synergy re-interviews a very broad sample of TGI respondents, on the premise that the wider it casts its net the more business it can do with the major advertising agencies and FMCG companies.
The specific Synergy research referred to in your letter of 15 February was bought by M&C Saatchi, rather than ourselves. M&C would have sought the Synergy analysis to help understand better the Silk Cut smoker.
As was the case with TGI, I confirm that I believe Synergy has worked with most major advertising and FMCG companies at some time. It is not a consultancy working solely for tobacco companies—or companies in any other sector.
I trust that this clarifies any relationship which exists between TGI data and Synergy, as I understand it.
During the evidence sessions of the Health Committee, reference was made to an agency document and research carried out amongst 15-24 year olds. Much was made of the "age 15" point, I believe, without a full understanding of the research referred to. I can further assist your committee by way of this letter to set the record straight.
The research referred to is from the Target Group Index (TGI) and is a proprietary product of the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB).
TGI is a continuous survey that has been carried out in Great Britain each year since 1969. It gathers data on the use and purchase, by consumers, of over 4,000 brands, within more than 500 product fields. Data on the readership of around 200 newspapers and magazines, weight of TV viewing, radio listenership and attitudes to a raft of lifestyle issues are also collected.
Thank you for your letter to me of 9 February relating to Agency research carried out amongst 15-24 year olds. As I understand it, the Committee was referring to documentation produced by M&C Saatchi relating to market research conducted amongst 15-34 year olds, separately identifying 15-17 year olds. This research bore the logo Synergy. I would be grateful if you could clarify whether this organisation is identical to the Target Group Index research referred to in your letter to me. [This graph only]
My earlier submission to the Committee dealt with the difficulties I had experienced in gaining reasonable access to the BAT Depository at Guildford up to the end of October 1999. This second submission seeks to provide up-to-date information on the continuing problems researchers face in using the Depository.
As part of the settlement of a court action by the Minnesota Attorney General against all major tobacco companies operating in the United States, BAT Industries plc (the parent company of Brown & Williamson, a party to the case) agreed to establish a depository of all UK documents which were furnished during the discovery phase of the action and to make it accessible to the public for 10 years. This has become known as the Guildford Depository. . .
It has been my experience that BAT has restricted public access to an unreasonable degree without justification.
This has serious consequences for parties (other than the US plaintiffs and their lawyers) who are seeking redress for the harm caused by BAT's products or who are seeking to reveal the potentially misleading conduct of the company.
Session 1997-98
First Report: Tobacco Advertising and the Proposed EC Directive (HC 373) [Cm 3859]
Second Report: Children Looked After by Local Authorities (HC 319) [Cm 4175]
Third Report: The Welfare of Former British Child Migrants (HC 755) [Cm 4182]
Monday 5 June 2000
Mr David Hinchliffe, in the Chair
The following memoranda have been reported to the House, but to save printing costs they have not been printed and copies have been placed in the House of Commons Library, where they may be inspected by Members.
1.Department of Health [TB 1A] 487
2.National Asthma Campaign [TB 2] 491
3.Cancer Research Campaign [TB 5] 495
Philip Morris Europe S.A. [TB 19B] 360
Action on Smoking and Health [TB 18B] 429
Mr Duncan Campbell [TB 51] 445
LEIGH, DAY AND CO. SOLICITORS
Mr M Day . . .
WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION
Dr D Yach
The Health Committee is appointed to examine on behalf of the House of Commons the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department of Health (and any associated public bodies). Its constitution and powers are set out in House of Commons Standing Order No. 152.
The Committee has a maximum of eleven members, of whom the quorum for any formal proceedings is three. The members of the Committee are appointed by the House and unless discharged remain on the Committee until the next dissolution of Parliament. The present membership of the Committee is as follows: