§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster under what circumstances his Department issues central guidance to other Departments answering parliamentary questions; what changes there have been to this guidance in the past year; and if he will make a statement. [2927]
§ Mr. FreemanMy Department issued "Guidance to Officials on Drafting Answers to Parliamentary Questions" earlier this month. This new guidance, which takes account of helpful comments made by the Public Service Committee on an earlier draft, is as follows
1. Never forget Ministers' obligations to Parliament which are set out in "Questions of Procedure for Ministers":Ministers must not knowingly mislead Parliament and the public and should correct any inadvertent errors at the earliest opportunity. They must be as open as possible with Parliament and the public, withholding information only when disclosure would not be in the public interest, which should be decided in accordance with relevant statute and the Government's "Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.Ministers … have a duty … to give Parliament … and the public as full information as possible about the policies, decisions and actions of the Government, and not to deceive or mislead Parliament and the public.2. It is a civil servant's responsibility to Ministers to help them fulfil those obligations. It is the Minister's right and responsibility to decide how to do so. Ministers want to explain and present Government policy and actions in a positive light. They will rightly expect a draft answer that does full justice to the Government's position.3. Approach every question predisposed to give relevant information fully, as concisely as possible and in accordance with guidance on disproportionate cost. If there appears to be a conflict between the requirement to be as open as possible and the requirement to protect information whose disclosure would not be in the public interest, you should check to see whether it should be omitted in accordance with statute (which takes precedence) or the "Code of Practice on Access to Government Information", about which you should consult your departmental openness liaison officer if necessary.4. Do not omit information sought merely because disclosure could lead to political embarrassment or administrative inconvenience.5. Where there is a particularly fine balance between openness and non-disclosure, and when the draft answer takes the latter course, this should be explicitly drawn to the Minister's attention. Similarly, if it is proposed to reveal information of a sort which is not normally disclosed, this should be explicitly drawn to Ministers' attention.6. If you conclude that material information must be withheld and the PQ cannot be fully answered as a result, draft an answer which makes this clear and which explains the reasons in equivalent terms to those in the Code of Practice, or because of disproportionate cost or the information not being available. Take care to avoid draft answers which are literally true but likely to give rise to misleading inferences.