Attachment A
Letter to Mr Keith Vaz MP from Sir Richard
Wilson KCB, Secretary of the Cabinet and Head of the Home Civil
Service
Thank you for your letter of 18 April. I understand
that you have talked to Anthony Merifield about this, and he and
I have the same concern for the maintenance of our duty of confidentiality
towards those involved in the honours process. As Ceremonial Officer,
he assists me in preparing recommendations for the Prime Minister's
Lists, and also deals with the very large number of nominations
which we now receive from members of the public.
I can confirm that, at present, all honours
nominations are treated in strict confidence. Details of cases
are sent to those who help us to validate nominationsmainly
other Government Departments and Lord Lieutenantsbut under
the same duty of confidentiality. The purpose is to ensure that
the candidate does not learn of the nomination, and to encourage
those who provide validation comments to be as open and specific
as need be, without risk of public disclosure. This is vital if
recommendations are to be made strictly on the basis of meritorious
achievement, itself a protection against supporting letters that
lack the required degree of probity. The confidentiality has been
preserved in the recent Data Protection Act (where honours are
firmly exempt), with similar provisions in the draft Freedom of
Information Bill. It is envisaged that the Race Relations (Amendment)
Bill will contain an exemption for honours, but it is being proposed
that any challenge to honours recommendation should be considered
by the High Court with the safeguards which attend any proceedings
for judicial review.
Except where we are required to do so, for example
for a police investigation or court proceedings or judicial or
analogous enquiry, it is our policy not to release honours information
to any third party and we believe our procedures and practices
are sufficiently robust to ensure this. In the light of your concern,
I will ensure that my Head of Department colleagues are made aware
of what I have said here. Should we, or they, receive future requests
for the release of information, I would expect the request to
be referred to the Ceremonial Officer for this (or her) consideration
with our legal advisers. Where appropriate, the release might
carry conditions to enable an investigation to proceed but to
limit wider disclosure. This, however, would be a matter for decision
in the light of the particular circumstances. In the meantime,
I know you are aware of the position with Hayden Phillips (who
has not released any letter, but who did respond to a question
of fact).
I hope this is helpful. Anthony Merifield, and
his successor Mrs Gay Catt share the understanding I have set
out here.
15 May 2000
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