§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what guidelines(a) in force now and (b) issued since 1981 prevent company staff seconded 661W to his Department working on memoranda of advice to Ministers on matters affecting the company from which they were seconded; [17797]
(2) what guidelines have been issued since 13 May 1985 preventing access by company staff seconded to Defence Export Sales Organisation to correspondence, memoranda, and other contracts between the Ministry of Defence and their company; and what guidelines exist at the present time. [17795]
§ Mr. ArbuthnotRules governing access to, and possible disclosure of, information apply to all secondees to this Department, not just to those seconded to the Defence Export Sales Organisation. Guidance was issued by the Cabinet Office management and personnel office in 1987 which addressed, inter alia, the conduct of secondees to Government Departments. Secondees were reminded that they were subject to the Official Secrets Acts and were
to avoid situations that may lead to conflicts of interest.Attention was drawn to the need to avoid embarrassment either to the parent organisation or to the host Department. These rules remain in force.
The Department's secondment agreement, which applies to all our secondees, requires them to conform to the normal civil service and departmental rules on conduct. These state:
no officer may engage in any occupation or undertaking which might in any way conflict with the interests of the Ministry of Defence or be inconsistent with his/her position as a public servant".Where a conflict of interest could arise, the secondee would be expected to declare this possibility to his/her line manager.
On the question of possible disclosure, MOD rules state that material
which is of a security classified or confidential nature, to which the Secondee has access as a result of his/her work on secondment, (subject to the rights of third parties) may only be copied, disclosed and used solely for the purpose of performing that work. Such information or material may not be disclosed to or copied or used for the benefit of the Company or any of its employees or any other third party, without the prior written consent of the Secretary of State.