Press Notices

HI - 17

11 August 2004

THE LEAK OF THE HUTTON REPORT

Following the leak of the inquiry's report to a national newspaper shortly before its publication notwithstanding the precautions which were taken to guard against such a leak, Lord Hutton asked the solicitor to the Inquiry to conduct an investigation to try to discover the source of the leak. The solicitor carried out a full and careful investigation but was unable to discover the source.

When Lord Hutton gave evidence to the Public Administration Select Committee on May 13, he told the committee that he had asked for further investigations to be undertaken and that those investigations would include a consideration of whether there were any additional steps which could be taken in the future to ensure that confidential reports do not leak before publication.

Such investigations were put in train by the Department for Constitutional Affairs and have now been completed. No particular weaknesses in the measures which were taken to guard the confidentiality of the report were found. The source of the leak remains unknown. Steps taken to protect sensitive reports before publication will be kept under regular review.

Notes for Editors

• For security reasons no further information will be disclosed on the steps taken to identify the leak.
• Lord Hutton will not be giving any interviews.

Media queries relating to Lord Hutton's inquiry should be directed to the DCA Press Office.    Tel: 020-7210 8512/13   Fax: 020-7210 8633

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