What official information, if any, is held on a private email account of a current or former staff member in the Minister’s office and has not been placed on the official record since 27 November 2023; and what steps are being taken to recover them?

Answer

The deliberate use of a personal email account to conduct work activities as an alternate to using the work email provided to staff is not permitted. However, from time to time there are justifiable reasons for a private email to be used – for example an inability to print from their parliamentary email address while travelling or sending a copy of a press release to their private email to copy and paste to media via messaging because they are unable to copy and paste from Outlook. All ministerial staff have been reminded that they If they have used a personal email account to complete work related activities, the material created or received may constitute a public record. The material must be reviewed and securely saved.