§ Mr. RooneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what guidance is given to the Employment Service on the giving of information on claimants to hon. Members' staff.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Terry Rooney, dated 7 February 1994:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about guidance to Employment Service (ES) staff on providing information about claimants to honourable Members' staff.It may help if I explain the background. The rules of confidentiality are long established, having been in operation since the start of the National Insurance Scheme in 1911, when the Government of the day decided that information obtained about members of the public in connection with its administration should be regarded as confidential between the person concerned and the Ministry, and would not be released without the consent of that person. Successive Governments have continued since then to apply this policy. There are however specific groups of people who may receive personal information about a client without written consent; these include MPs, provided that they are acting on behalf of the client concerned. If however an enquiry about a client is received from someone claiming to be acting on behalf of the MP, we do not reply until the written consent of the client is produced.The policy on issues concerning disclosure of information, is set out in the ES Disclosure Guide and other internal memos. This guidance is issued to all ES Jobcentres and updated regularly as necessary.I hope this is helpful.