Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will place in the Library a copy of her Department’s current operational guidance setting out the criteria for referring proposed Freedom of Information responses to (a) the Communications Directorate and (b) special advisers for clearance.

The Home Office does not currently intend to place this operational guidance in the library.

The guidance is an internal operational document used to support officials in the handling and review of Freedom of Information requests. It is intended for internal use and decisions on whether information should be disclosed continue to be taken on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.