Subject: Recruitment of David Cameron as Special Advisor to Norman Lamont 1992
Date: 18 November 2005
Request:
Any information relating to the recruitment of David Cameron as special advisor to Norman Lamont in 1992, including what vetting procedure was followed and any information held on Mr. Cameron at the Treasury as a result of, or relating to that vetting procedure.
Disclosure:
Treasury confirmed that David Cameron was appointed as a special adviser to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 14 May 1992. He worked here until June 1993. Information on the vetting procedure used at that time can be found in Hansard, WA 159-161, 24 July 1990
Information relating to the recruitment of individuals is personal information which we are withholding under exemption S 40 of the FOI Act. The rights of access created by the FOI Act do not apply to personal information held on individuals where release would contravene the Data Protection Act.
The FOI Act requires us to assess the public interest in deciding what information of a personal nature can be released. In this case we have assessed four factors.
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How the information was obtained;
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the likely expectation of the individual providing the information regarding disclosure;
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the effect disclosure would have on the individual and
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the public interest in disclosure.
The information held was obtained for recruitment and selection purposes. It is our view that the likely expectation of anyone seeking engagement, or recruited to the Treasury, would be, that all information held and assessments made as part of that process, is private to the individual and or the Treasury. If personal information were to be released the effect of disclosure would break the duty of trust between the individual and the Treasury and adversely affect our ability to maintain recruitment. While there is always public interest in knowing about prominent individuals in public life there is a greater public interest in Departments of State protecting individuals’ privacy of as part of the selection process both during and post their period of employment. To release such information would severely damage our ability to recruit and risks a legal challenge as a contravention of the Data Protection Act.