Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what advice the (1) Home Secretary, and (2) Permanent Secretary of the Government Communications Service, received concerning the exclusion of news organisations who may not support Government policy from attending the Home Secretary’s recent trip to Rwanda; and in particular whether they considered the Government Communications Service Propriety Guidance requiring media officers to "establish their impartiality and neutrality with the news media", by dealing "with all news media evenhandedly.

Media outlets who accompanied the Home Secretary’s visit to Kigali on March 18 – 19 were BBC News, The Daily Express, The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, GB News, Press Association, The Sun, The Times. There were also numerous outlets in the region who covered the visit.

Even-handed treatment of the media in accordance with the Government Communications Service guidelines is central to how the Civil Service communicates. Due consideration of the GCS guidelines is undertaken in Home Office communications.

All news organisations were kept informed of the progress of the visit regardless of whether they attended or not.