10 July 2001

Dear Maurice

Thank you for copying me your correspondence with the DTI over naming secondees. We have now advised, on more than one occasion, that disclosure in these circumstances is unlikely to be 'unfair' in Data Protection Act terms.

Clear notification, at the time a secondee is taken on, of the intention to publish (or willingness to do so on request) would be the proper basis for the future. It may be that the Treasury Solicitors' concerns relate to cases where this may not have been made clear and the secondment is already underway.

Nick Tyler has been having some general discussion about Data Protection law with Treasury Solicitors. I will ask him to cover this type of issue in any future discussions.

Yours Liz

Elizabeth France
Information Commissioner