Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 16 November (HL Deb, cols 1424–5), what steps they are taking to reduce the number of leaks of confidential communications, and in particular whether they intend to restrict distribution lists.

Everyone who works with government has a duty to respect the confidentiality and integrity of any Government information and data that they use, and is personally accountable for safeguarding assets in line with this policy. Foreign and Comonwealth Office (FCO) Guidance already recommends restricting distribution lists for particularly sensitive information. Whenever there is an alleged leak of FCO information, the Department follows established Cabinet Office investigation procedures.