Ministry of Defence
Main Building
Whitehall
London SW1A 2HB
United Kingdom
E-mail:
xxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
Ref: FOI 2024/12705
24 July 2024
Mr Gavin Roberts
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Dear Mr Gavin Roberts,
Thank you for your correspondence of 12 July 2024 requesting the following information:
“Q1, Do your Ministers lose their right to free speech, when they become Ministers? If so
please present the data
As elected MP's they are by the people for the people Q2, Does this change when they
become Ministers.
Does protocol change from the priority being the people towards the state/establishment? If
so how and when are MP'S made aware of this.”
I am treating your correspondence as a request for information under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 (FOIA).
Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act gives an applicant the right to access recorded
information held by public authorities at the time the request is made and does not require public
authorities to answer questions, provide explanations or give opinions, unless this is recorded
information held. I can confirm that the Ministry of Defence holds no recorded information that
would provide an answer to the questions you have asked in your request.
Under Section 16 of the Act (Advice and Assistance) you may find it helpful to note that the
Ministerial Code is a set of rules and principles which outlines the standards of conduct for
government ministers in the UK. A copy of the Code can be found at
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-code. If you have any queries regarding the content of this letter, please contact this office in the first
instance.
If you wish to complain about the handling of your request, or the content of this response, you can
request an independent internal review by contacting the Information Rights Compliance team,
Ground Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail
xxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx).
Please note that any request for an internal review should be made within 40 working days of the
date of this response.
If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may raise your complaint directly to the
Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.
Please note that the Information Commissioner will not normally investigate your case until the
MOD internal review process has been completed. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Further details of the role and powers of the Information Commissioner can be
found on the Commissioner's website at
https://ico.org.uk/. Yours sincerely,
Top Office Group
