Michael Gove private emails ‘subject to freedom of information law’

Department of Education’s claims messages conducting government business ‘do not fall within FOI act’ is rebuked The information commissioner’s office has challenged a claim by the Department for Education that private email accounts are not subject to freedom of information legislation. The claim was made in response to allegations that the education secretary, Michael Gove, and his closest advisers conducted government business on private emails. The Financial Times reported that these emails included issues such as a school literacy programme, which would be covered by FOI law. In its rebuttal of the allegations, the Department for Education has claimed that private emails “do not fall within the FOI Act” and are not searchable by civil servants. However, in a statement the information commissioner’s office said: “It is certainly possible that some information in private emails could fall within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act if it concerns government business. This will be dependent on the specific circumstances.” The information commissioner’s office is making inquiries after an FT journalist made FOI requests seeking to retrieve details of emails he had seen through other channels. According to the paper, the department said in each case it did not hold the information. The email traffic includes questions about government business such as “where are we on reducing bureaucracy?”, the FT reports. In one email, Gove sums up what he expects from a judicial review of his decision to cancel the Building Schools for the Future programme with one word: “AAAAAARGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!”. The decision to cancel Labour’s school building programme last summer generated the worst crisis of Gove’s time in office. In February, a high court judge ruled he had acted unlawfully. Sandwell, one of the councils affected by the scrapping of BSF, has instructed solicitors to write to the Department for Education , asking whether Gove and his aides used personal email accounts in the decision-making process. The DfE has also responded to the disclosure that Dominic Cummings, Gove’s chief political adviser, wrote to colleagues shortly after he was appointed stating he “will not answer any further emails to my official DfE account”. The email continued: “i will only answer things that come from gmail accounts from people who i know who they are. i suggest that you do the same in general but thats obv up to you guys – i can explain in person the reason for this …”[sic] The department said the email concerned party political activity, not government business. In its statement, the DfE said: “[The FT] has repeatedly asked that civil servants search private email accounts. However, the Cabinet Office is clear that private email accounts do not fall within the FOI Act and are not searchable by civil servants. Neither the secretary of state nor special advisers have been asked to disclose emails sent from private accounts.” The Guardian revealed yesterday that inquiries by civil servants about the Tories’ free schools programme were blocked by Cummings. The inquiries were an attempt to answer parliamentary questions about free schools tabled by the Labour MP Caroline Flint. Flint has tweeted: “So Gove’s adviser blocked answers to my freeschool PQs. Time for a public apology Mr Gove?” Michael Gove Freedom of information Free schools Financial Times Newspapers & magazines Jeevan Vasagar guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 21, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.