The Cabinet Office has appointed Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein CBE to lead an independent review of non-corporate communications channels used in government. The review will examine how officials, advisers and Ministers use personal messaging apps and e-mails for work, with the stated aim of improving clarity around secure and properly recorded government business.
Darren Jones, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, made the appointment. Sir Anthony will look at the human, organisational, legal and technical factors involved, which puts the handling of these channels under direct review rather than leaving each part of government to interpret the rules separately.
Cabinet Office review scope
The Government says it wants to maintain the highest standards of information security, transparency, propriety and record-keeping. It also says communication methods across the public sector have changed considerably in recent years, and that greater clarity is needed over the use of non-corporate channels for government business.
That gives the review a practical remit. It is not limited to technology alone: the brief reaches the way decisions are made, how those decisions are recorded, and how work is carried out when it does not move through corporate systems.
Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein CBE
Sir Anthony’s appointment places one independent reviewer between the Government’s stated standards and the everyday use of personal messaging apps and e-mails. The review covers officials, advisers and Ministers, so its findings could affect the routines of anyone who handles government work outside formal channels.
The source frames the exercise as part of maintaining public trust in how government decisions are made. It also ties the review to the balance between transparency and accountability on one side and operational efficiency and information security on the other.
What the review will recommend is the unanswered issue. For now, the important change is that the Cabinet Office has moved the question from general policy debate to a specific independent review led by Sir Anthony.
