Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department’s procedures permit special advisers to require that a proposed response to a Freedom of Information request is not issued pending their agreement, and which ministerial or official role has final responsibility for authorising disclosure.

Special advisers may be consulted as part of the Home Office's handling of Freedom of Information requests. Where a case has been referred as part of the Department's internal processes, the response would not normally be issued until that stage of the process has been completed. Consistent with Cabinet Office guidance, special advisers may provide advice but do not make decisions on whether information is released under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Final decisions on the application of the Act and the disclosure of information are taken in accordance with the Department's delegated decision-making arrangements and ordinarily rest with the responsible official, although ministers may have a decision-making role in specific circumstances, including for the purposes of section 36 of the Act.