Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to page 8 of the Directory of Civil Service Guidance, Volume 2, published in 2000, whether it remains convention that Ministers of a current Administration may not generally have access to policy papers of a previous Administration of a different political party.

The convention on Access to Papers of a Previous Administration is also set out in the Cabinet Manual (paragraph 11.23 to 11.24), and remains in place. The Cabinet Manual was published in 2010 and is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-manual