§ Mr. Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will place in the Library a copy of the internal departmental guidance on the dissemination of information; and if he will make a statement. [16298]
§ Dr. HowellsThe Department has no specific internal guidance about the dissemination of information but it has made available to its staff details of the Six Central Government Standards for correspondence, appointments, information, consultation, complaints and access. The third of these deals with providing information about services.
In general terms, the Department follows the Conventions of Central Government Publicity and Advertising in all of the information it makes available to the public via publicity materials and campaigns. It also follows the centrally agreed rules (currently being revised) for the Government Information Service when it supplies information to the media.
Finally, the Department's staff have been made aware of the requirements of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information to ensure openness.