Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 10 March (HL15172), on what date the guidance on speaking to the media was last updated.

I refer the noble Lady to the answer given in HL15172:

Question: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 3 February (HL13976), and with reference to paragraph 223 of the Cabinet Office Guide to Parliamentary Work and paragraph 1.6(d) of the Ministerial Code, what is the reason why current policy development prevents the publication of the previous guidance to the Civil Service about speaking to the media. HL15172

Answer: This guidance is currently under development in a live policy area. Premature release of this information would inhibit the free and frank provision of advice for policy development.