HC Deb 19 December 1983 vol 51 cc17-8
35. Mr. Dalyell

asked the Minister for the Civil Service what rules are laid down regarding the disclosure by retired civil servants of official information gained during their service.

Mr. Hayhoe

Retired civil servants continue to be bound by the Official Secrets Acts and by the duty to respect their employers' confidence in respect of information to which they had access while serving.

Mr. Dalyell

In view of the liberal use of Foreign Office telegrams and intelligence reports by Sir Nicholas Henderson in a very tendentious 11-page article in The Economist, do Ministers understand that many of his colleagues, equally senior and distinguished, think that there is one rule for the rest of them and another for Sir Nicholas Henderson?

Mr. Hayhoe

The same rules apply to all retired civil servants. The hon. Gentleman should raise the details of the point that he has in mind with my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

Mr. Onslow

Is my hon. Friend satisfied with his ability to enforce the rules relating to the disclosure of official information by serving civil servants?

Mr. Hayhoe

I regard my own abilities as limited. I listened earlier with much interest, as did the whole House, to the comments of my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House.

Mr. Freud

Will the Minister persuade his right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary to extend the rules to former chief constables, such as the one in west Yorkshire?

Mr. Hayhoe

As chief constables are not civil servants, I cannot answer that question. If the hon. Gentleman wishes to pursue the matter he should raise it with the Home Secretary, rather than seek to have it dealt with in a roundabout way through me.