Downing Street has defended a change to the civil service code that requires officials to get ministerial authorisation before speaking to the media.
According to changes to the Civil Service Code’s standards of behaviour made this week, officials must now seek the approval of ministers before making “any contact with the media”.
Both the FDA and the Public Commercial Services union (PCS) have criticised the move, saying it will undermine government transparency.
Related content
Change to Whitehall media rules prompts attack on Francis Maude by unions
Maude outlines benefits of government transparency
Disunion in the unions
The Cabinet Office has said the amendment merely clarifies rules on official contact that were already in place.
Speaking this afternoon, the prime minister's official spokesperson denied that the change would make it harder for journalists to do their job.
“Each department has a government press office, so there are plenty of people for journalists to pick up the phone to," the spokesperson said.
"There’s a pretty long-standing understanding in the civil service that there’s a reason why departments have press officers, because the job of civil service press officers is to talk to the media, to – I’m sure – always try to field your questions helpfully and constructively. I’d just temper the slight risk of over-writing this one.”
They added: “We have a very long-standing convention which is that civil servants advise and ministers decide and ministers are accountable.”
The Number 10 spokesperson also pushed back against the claims made by the FDA and PCS, saying David Cameron "doesn’t share the view that has been expressed by some trade unions" that the change would make whistle-blowing by officials more difficult.
"There are very clear laws across the public sector with regard to whistle-blowing and that’s why the prime minister doesn’t share the trade union view," they added.
The change was the subject of a letter sent by Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude to the National Trade Union Committee. Maude said civil servants were already prohibited from disclosing official information without permission and that the changes would “provide clarity on these points.”
He told Lewtas: “Given civil servants’ accountability to ministers, it would be inappropriate for civil servants to undertake such activity without the express permission of their ministers."