Integrity Talking Points

Last Friday the Information Commissioner ruled that government business is covered by the Freedom of Information Act whatever way it is transmitted. The logical conclusion is that, otherwise, all government communications would be channeled through hotmail or gmail accounts.

This will impact on the way the British Cabinet operates. Media reports are that Ministers and their advisers routinely use private emails accounts to keep exchanges unknown by their officials and beyond legal disclosure obligations. Ministerial advisers apparently feel the need to exclude officials from sensitive matters because of a suspicion that their sympathies will result in leaks to the Opposition.

An Opposition MP claims that she has not received a straight response from the Education Secretary to the following questions she put to him;

• Have you or your advisors ever used private email accounts to conceal information from civil servants or the public that relates to departmental business and is covered by the Freedom of Information Act?
• Have you ever directed civil servants not to answer FoI requests on specific issues?
• What steps are you taking to prevent the deletion of private emails that relate to government business and have been deemed by the Information Commissioner to be covered by the Act?

The Minister has 28 days to appeal to the Information Tribunal against the Information Commissioner’s decision and the direction to disclose the content of the Mrs Blurt emails. It will be interesting to see if there is much content left in Ministers’ unofficial email accounts by the time this matter gets to the Tribunal.