§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what guidelines are in place regarding the disciplinary action which can be taken against those members of Ministers' staff who are not civil servants and are not based within the Department, where they are found guilty of misconduct or gross misconduct; [75797]
(2) what guidelines are in place regarding access to (a) unpublished documents and (b) material with a restricted classification by members of Ministers' staff who are not civil servants and are not based within the Department. [75798]
§ Mr. StrawMinisters' staff are either civil servants or paid or unpaid special advisers. Paid special advisers are civil servants, employed under individual contracts (the model of which was promulgated by the Prime Minister on 19 May 1997), and are subject to the same conditions of service and the same rules of conduct as other civil servants. Unpaid advisers are subject to the normal rules of confidentiality, as the Ministerial Code, published in July 1997, makes clear. The employment by Ministers, in their capacity as Members of Parliament, of staff to assist with constituency business, is not a matter for me.