Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many evaluations relating to Government policies, projects or programmes have been exempted from publication due to national security concerns in the last 12 months; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure adequate levels of public accountability of (a) high-risk and (b) high-cost projects.

Departments are responsible for making determinations about whether evaluation plans and findings should be withheld from publication on the grounds that publication would threaten national security.

In cases where departments determine that evaluation plans or reports should not be published because the contents fall under any exemption outlined in the Freedom of Information Act, the Evaluation Registry guidance states that departments should make this clear in writing to the Evaluation Task Force (Cabinet Office). Exemptions include but are not limited to national security.

Since April 2024 -- when the use of the Evaluation Registry was made mandatory for government departments -- the Evaluation Task Force has been notified of one evaluation which has not been added to the Evaluation Registry on the grounds that it meets an exemption outlined in the Act. Further guidance on publication exemptions is available online on the 'Guidance on using the Evaluation Registry' webpage.