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UK data watchdog to probe use of private emails by health ministers

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LONDON — The U.K.’s data watchdog said Tuesday she had launched a formal investigation into allegations health ministers used private email addresses to conduct government business.

Elizabeth Denham, the U.K.’s information commissioner, said in a blog post that reports of ministers and senior officials using private correspondence channels, such as private email accounts, to conduct sensitive official business were “concerning.”

The Sunday Times alleged last month that former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who resigned after images were published of him kissing an aide in violation of social distancing rules, had routinely used a private account in a breach of government guidelines.

Further allegations have since emerged that current health ministers James Bethell and Helen Whately also used private email accounts to conduct government business. Bethell has admitted to using a private account for work, but insisted he did nothing wrong.

Denham acknowledged that the use of private correspondence channels did not in itself break freedom of information or data protection rules, but said she was concerned information in private email accounts or messaging services was “forgotten, overlooked, autodeleted or otherwise not available when a freedom of information request is later made.”

If ministers are found to have deliberately destroyed, altered, or concealed information after it has been requested under the Freedom of Information Act, they could face criminal prosecutions.

“The role of transparency as fundamental to democracy has never been clearer than in the past eighteen months,” Denham wrote. “Government decisions about public health and civil liberties, about where we can travel and who we can see, about vaccines and testing, about supporting and reshaping economies — all these decisions are made on behalf of society by those in power.”

Denham has served information notices to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to preserve evidence for her inquiry, which aims to establish if private correspondence channels were used, and if their use led to breaches of freedom of information or data protection laws.

A spokesman for the department previously told the Sunday Times: “All DHSC ministers understand the rules around personal email usage and only conduct government business through their departmental email addresses.”

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