SUPPLEMENTARY
LETTER FROM
PATRICK WHITE,
PRIVATE SECRETARY,
CABINET OFFICE
At Tessa Jowell's evidence session with the
Committee, the Rt Hon The Lord Lyell of Markyate asked why Cabinet
Office Officials has requested the police to consider an OSA investigation
following the leak of immigration documents when the OSA was amended
in 1989 to exclude immigration from the coverage of the Act.
Sir Gus O'Donnell explained in full that the
background to the request for the police to consider an investigation
at his evidence session with your Committee on 4 November. As
he said then, his officials were fully aware of the intentions
of Parliament in passing the 1989 Official Secrets Act, with its
focus on national security related damage as the criminal offence.
It was absolutely not the case that the analysis being done within
this department was based on an outdated interpretation of the
pre-1989 law. Sir Gus did go on, as he has done before to Parliamentary
committees, to explain in full the context at the time of the
request to the Metropolitan Police Service to consider an investigation,
which centred around the mixture of national security and non-national
security related leaks that had already taken place, how the department
did not know the source or sources of the leaks, and had to weigh
up the risk of future leaks which might involve national security
material.
The Committee may also be interested in a consolidated
Cabinet Office paper (not published here) on handling official
information, which has just issued. A copy has also been sent
to the Public Administration Committee and a copy has been placed
in the Library of the House. You will note that the guidance adopts
in full the Chief Inspector's protocol for consideration of police
involvement in leak investigations.
November 2009
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