E-mail purge prompts claims of Whitehall cover up
The Government has been accused of trying to destroy embarrassing information after revelations that millions of e-mails to civil servants will be wiped on Monday, 11 days before the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act comes into force.
The Times newspaper reveals that the Cabinet Office, which co-ordinates policy across government, has ruled that e-mails more than three months old must be deleted from December 20.
Although officials have been told to print off and file e-mails that should be disclosed under new freedom of information laws, the paper claims that department heads will not monitor the process.
The Assistant Information Commissioner, Phil Boyd, has expressed concern that the decision could lead to the loss of important files, The Times reports.
Mr Boyd will be responsible for enforcing freedom of information requests once the new law comes into force.
Although the deleted e-mails will be stored on back-ups systems, they will be ruled inaccessible for freedom of information requests, on the grounds that retrieving the material would be too costly.
Opposition parties have accused the Government of acting against the spirit of the Freedom of Information Act.
The Conservatives said Ministers were deliberately trying to destroy embarrassing information.
“This begs the question how much more does the Labour administration need to hide,” Shadow Minister for Industry and Technology, Michael Fabricant told The Times.
Liberal Democrat chairman of the Constitutional Affairs Committee, Alan Beith accused the Government of conducting a “wholesale clear-out” in choosing to delete the e-mails.
“This has the appearance of trying to get round the new freedom of information legislation. It certainly appears that they are not observing the spirit of the Act,” he said.
Both the Cabinet Office and the Department for Constitutional Affairs, which is monitoring the introduction of the new laws, said the decision to delete the e-mails was part of the Government’s routine record management policy.
“No Government departments have been told to destroy records in order to prevent their release under the FoI Act, and such a policy would run totally contrary to the Government’s intention to increase openness”, the Department for Constitutional Affairs is quoted as saying.
