Security Classifications

HC Deb 09 March 1995 vol 256 cc341-2W

Mr. Steen

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what recent changes have been made in the definitions of the security classifications "confidential" and "commercial in confidence" in the light of the Government's commitment to open government; and what guidance has been circulated to civil servants on the use of such classifications.

Mr. Horam

Until 3 April 1994, the definition of the classification "confidential" wasInformation and material the unauthorised disclosure of which would be damaging to the interests of the nation".

Until the same date, "commercial in confidence" was one of a number of privacy markings and its purpose was to enable appropriate protection to be given to information relating to a commercial undertaking's processes or affairs and which may have been of commercial value to its competitors or to speculators. Following a review of protective security, the classification system and the privacy marking system were replaced by a harmonised system of protective markings.

The new definition of "confidential" is: The compromise of this information or material would be likely: materially to damage diplomatic relations—ie cause formal protest or other sanction—to prejudice individual security or liberty; to cause damage to the operational effectiveness or security of UK or allied forces or the effectiveness of valuable security or intelligence operations; to work substantially against national finances or economic and commercial interest; substantially to undermine the financial viability of major organisations; to impede the investigation or facilitate the commission of serious crime; to impede seriously the development or operation of major government policies; to shut down or otherwise substantially disrupt significant national operations".

Privacy markings, such as "commercial in confidence", have been abolished. They have been replaced by descriptors which can be used, normally in conjunction with any one of the four protective markings—top secret, secret, confidential, and restricted—to indicate what sort of sensitive material—commercial, staff, management, and so on—is being protected. Guidance about the use of the protective marking system has been issued to departments and agencies as part of wider guidance on protective security.

The new protective marking system is consistent with the code of practice on access to Government information. The guidance on interpretation of the code of practice, which has been issued to all Departments and agencies subject to the code and has been placed in the Library, makes it clear that the arrangements for marking information help to ensure the physical security of information which is exempt from disclosure under the code. It also makes clear that information does not need to be protectively marked to be exempt from disclosure under the code, and that a protective marking cannot he taken, without further examination, to mean that all the information contained in a document is properly exempt from disclosure.