Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 25 July (HC Deb col 797), what consideration they give to past breaches on security and probity in government in subsequent government security vetting; whether, when re-appointing Damian McBride as a government special adviser, they reviewed his autobiography to assess whether there was any evidence within it of him breaching a relevant code of conduct; and what account they took of any such evidence when deciding to re-appoint him.

All special advisers are subject to the same checks as other civil servants in terms of security vetting, and are contractually obliged to meet the standards set out in both the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, and the Civil Service Code’s values of Honesty and Integrity.