Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Attorney General, what criteria he uses when deciding whether to make public legal advice made available to Government; and on what occasions such legal advice has been made public since May 2015.

Jeremy Wright

It is a longstanding constitutional convention, set out in the Cabinet Manual and the Ministerial Code, that the fact that the Law Officers have advised or have not advised, and the content of their advice, must not be disclosed without their authority. The convention exists for fundamental constitutional reasons and to promote the public interest in the Rule of Law. Whether the Law Officers have advised and the content of that advice is part of the collective Cabinet decision-making process. The convention reflects the public interest in collective Cabinet responsibility. It also reflects the fact that Law Officers’ advice is confidential legal advice and, as with all professional legal advice, it is subject to legal professional privilege. In addition, it acknowledges the feature of Law Officers’ advice which sets it apart from other legal advice, namely that it is sought in relation to issues of particular complexity, sensitivity and constitutional importance. It is a matter of constitutional importance that the provision of advice in these circumstances should be protected in the public interest.

A decision to disclose would require an exceptional countervailing public interest. No such case has arisen since May 2015.