UK government minister faces private email probe

A GOVERNMENT MINISTER is facing investigation by the UK Information Commissioner after it was revealed that his department commonly uses private email accounts without disclosing that it does so.

Ministers and their support staff, spin doctors, and assistants, are expected to use government email accounts to discuss political business, so the fact that the Financial Times has discovered that the opposite is happening means that perhaps important mails could be missing from any Freedom of Information requests. That fact rather defeats the purpose of FOI requests.

In fact, adds the FT, civil servants are already unable to find emails, which has lead to a letter from the Information Commissioner to the permanent secretary at the Department for Education about the issue.

According to the FT the misuse of email can be traced back to when the coalition government started redecorating Parliament. One email, from Mr Gove's chief political aide Dominic Cummings, was pretty clear about the author's intentions.

"[I] will not answer any further e-mails to my official DfE account," it reads. "[I] will only answer things that come from gmail accounts from people who [I] know who they are. [I] suggest that you do the same in general but thats obv up to you guys - [I] can explain in person the reason for this ... ".

Commenting on the evidence, Andy Burnham, shadow education secretary, told the FT, "Mr Gove must make an urgent statement to clarify whether, at all times, his department has followed the letter of the law." µ