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Project Sparrow — Pre-Onboarding Protocol
It is imperative that all personnel allocated to Project Sparrow are made aware of and
understand their obligations in respect of protecting the confidentiality and legal privilege of
the information they receive in advance of receiving any Project Sparrow information.
Appendix A contains a protocol document agreed between UKGI and Post Office Limited
which governs the treatment of Project Sparrow information. You must read the protocol
and ensure you are comfortable with and understand your obligations. If you have any
concerns or queries in respect of these obligations, these should be directed to the UKGI
Legal team and you should ensure that you are satisfied in your understanding before being
onboarded. In conjunction with the onboarding process, your name will be added to the
Individual Recipients list as described in Appendix A.
Sharing of information
You should also note that information MUST ONLY be onward shared with other individuals
who are listed on the Individual Recipients List. It is important to note that not all members
of the Post Office teams at UKGI and/or BEIS are included on the list. If in doubt, you should
check the Individual Recipients List before sharing any information. The Individual Recipients
List, as at today’s date, is attached at Appendix B. An up to date copy of the Individual
Recipients List will be made available in the protected Project Sparrow space on the UKGI I:/
drive.
If it becomes necessary to share information with individuals who are not listed on the
Individual Recipients List, this sharing must be approved by the team leader, and the
relevant individuals should be provided with this Pre-Onboarding Protocol prior to their
being provided with the relevant information. It is your responsibility, as the person sharing
the information, to ensure that the recipient is added to the Individual Recipients List by
informing the team leader. The current team leader is Stephen Clarke.
I understand my obligations under the protocol set out in Appendix A and agree to be
onboarded and added to the Project Sparrow Individual Recipients List.
SIGNED:
NAME:
ORGANISATON: ..
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1.2
1.3
1.6
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APPENDIX A - OBLIGATIONS IN RELATION TO LEGALLY PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
INFORMATION
“Privileged and Confidential Information” means any and all legally privileged and
other confidential information relating to the Postmaster Complaints provided by
Post Office Limited (“POL”) in any form or by inspection or observation, whether
supplied or received before or after the date of this Protocol, and wherever or
however stored, compiled or memorialised, together with any copies of and notes
made in respect of such information.
“Purpose” means understanding the matters in issue in the Postmaster Complaints,
POL’s positon on them, and the exposures they present to POL’s operations, finances
and reputation, all of which are of common interest to POL, the Secretary of State
and UK Government Investments (“UKGI”). This common interest is based (among
other grounds) on the Secretary of State/UKGI’s ownership of POL, the investment
they make in POL’s activities to support the important public and social purpose POL
serves, and the accountabilities the Secretary of State/UKGI have for that ownership
and investment to Parliament and to the public.
Strategy
1.4 UKGI and the Secretary of State (each a “Receiving Party”) will:
“Secretary of State” means the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial
1.4.1. treat and safeguard the Privileged and Confidential Information as private and
confidential;
1.4.2 not use or disclose any of the Privileged and Confidential Information for any
purposes other than the Purpose;
1.4.3. ensure proper and secure storage of the Privileged and Confidential
Information;
1.4.4. handle, preserve and protect such Privileged and Confidential Information
using a high degree of care and at least the same degree of care as the
Receiving Party affords its own confidential information of like sensitivity and
importance;
1.4.5 permit access to the Privileged and Confidential Information only to such of
its executives, officers, employees and professional advisors, and those of the
Secretary of State (together “Individual Recipients”), as reasonably and
necessarily require access to the same in respect of the Purpose and then
only on condition that each such Individual Recipient is made aware of the
privileged nature of the Privileged and Confidential Information and agrees to
comply with the obligations imposed on the Receiving Party under this
Protocol.
1.5 The Receiving Party shall retain up to date records of all Individual Recipients.
The Receiving Party will ensure that such Individual Recipients are aware of the
relevant obligations under clause 1.4 of this agreement not to disclose any Privileged
and Confidential Information except in accordance with this Protocol.
1.7
1.8
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The Receiving Party shall:
1.7.1. ensure that all its executives, officers and/or employees, professional advisors
and those of the Secretary of State who work with the Individual Recipients
are aware that the Individual Recipients are required to keep the Privileged
and Confidential Information confidential and that if such executives, officers,
employees, professional advisors and/or those of the Secretary of State
should obtain any Privileged and Confidential Information, that they too shall
keep it confidential and keep it secure in the same way as the Receiving Party
secures its own confidential information;
1.7.2. promptly and in any event not less than three working days after becoming
aware notify POL in writing where any unauthorised use of any Privileged and
Confidential Information has taken place;
1.7.3. to the extent that any Privileged and Confidential Information is proprietary
to any third party other than POL, the Receiving Party shall ensure that all
Individual Recipients shall only use such Privileged and Confidential
Information for the Purpose unless POL expressly advises otherwise in
writing.
These obligations of confidentiality do not apply to any information which in the
reasonable opinion of the Receiving Party:
1.8.1. was known to the Receiving Party before the Privileged and Confidential
Information was provided or made available by or on behalf of POL and was
not held under an obligation of confidence to POL whether directly or
indirectly;
1.8.2 is subsequently received from any third party legally in possession of the
Privileged and Confidential Information and who was not restricted from
disclosing it;
1.8.3 is in or subsequently comes into the public domain (other than by breach by
the Receiving Party of its obligations under this Protocol);
1.8.4 is subsequently authorised to be used or disclosed as non-confidential
information with the prior written approval of POL;
1.8.5 is independently acquired by an employee, consultant, contractor or
professional advisor of the Receiving Party in a manner which does not
constitute a breach any obligation of confidence;
1.8.6 is required to be disclosed by applicable law or by any court of competent
jurisdiction, the rules and regulations of any body or any enquiry or
investigation by any governmental, parliamentary, official or regulatory body
which:
(a) has the power to compel disclosure of the Privileged and
Confidential Information from the Receiving Party or any of the
Receiving Party’s officers, employees, advisors or consultants; or
(b) is otherwise lawfully entitled to require any such disclosure,
subject always to the Receiving Party complying with Clause 1.10; or
1.9
1.10
1.11
1.12
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1.8.7. is requested by supervisory or regulatory authorities, to whose jurisdiction
the Receiving Party reasonably believes itself to be subject, in connection
with their examination or supervision of the Receiving Party, subject always
to the Receiving Party complying with Clause 1.10.
Without prejudice to the generality of Clause 1.8.3, Privileged and Confidential
Information will not be deemed to be in the public domain by reason only that it is
known to only a few of those people to whom it might be of interest, and a
combination of two or more portions of the Privileged and Confidential Information
will not be deemed to be in the public domain by reason only of each separate
portion being so available.
If the Receiving Party is required pursuant to Clause 1.8.6 or 1.8.7 to disclose any
Privileged and Confidential Information, the Receiving Party will: (i) endeavour, to the
extent permitted by law, to provide POL with prompt written notice of such
requirement so that POL may assert such interest as it has in the Privileged and
Confidential Information, and (ii) ask the court or regulatory authority to treat the
Privileged and Confidential Information as confidential.
The parties acknowledge that the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/3391) (EIR) potentially apply to
Privileged and Confidential Information disclosed by POL to the Secretary of
State/UKGI. If the Secretary of State/UKGI receives a request for the disclosure of
information that includes within its scope Privileged and Confidential Information, it
shall:
1.11.1 promptly, and in any event within three business days of receipt, inform POL’s
Legal team of the request; and
1.11.2 allow a reasonable period for representations to be made by POL as to
whether prejudice to its interests would occur were the Privileged and
Confidential Information to be disclosed, provided that POL shall make such
representations within 5 business days from the date of the notification by
the Secretary of State/UKGI.
The Secretary of State/UKGI will consider any representations it receives pursuant to
Clause 1.7(b) but it retains sole discretion as to whether any Privileged and
Confidential Information falls to be disclosed under FOIA or EIR.
APPENDIX B — INDIVIDUAL RECIPIENTS LIST
LAST UPDATED: 22/07/2019
Tom Cooper — UKGI (POL Shareholder Team)
Tom Aldred — UKGI (POL Shareholder Team)
Stephen Clarke — UKGI (POL Shareholder Team)
Alex Cole — UKGI (POL Shareholder Team)
Tosin Adegun — UKGI (POL Shareholder Team)
Richard Watson — UKGI (Legal Counsel)
Lucie Lambert — UKGI (Legal Team)
Robin Culshaw — UKGI (Legal Team)
Rebecca Lowe — Private Secretary to the Secretary of State
Kelly Tolhurst MP — Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
Samantha Rice — Senior Private Secretary to Kelly Tolhurst MP
Jessica Tysoe — Private Secretary to Kelly Tolhurst MP
Alex Chisholm — Permanent Secretary for BEIS
Madhav Bakshi — Private Secretary to Alex Chisholm
Sophie Lewis — Private Secretary to Alex Chisholm
William Holloway - Clark Spad
[??? — Private Secretary to Clark Spad]
Carl Cresswell — BEIS Policy Champion (Director) for POL
Beth White — Deputy Director BEIS Policy Team for POL
Eleanor Beal — BEIS Policy Sponsor for POL
Cecilia Vandini - BEIS Policy Team for POL
William Wilson — BEIS Policy Team for POL
Gareth Evans — BEIS Legal
Jane Corera — BEIS Legal
Patrick Kilgarriff — BEIS Legal
Louise Jackson — BEIS Legal
Tom Taylor — BEIS Finance
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Annabelle Miles — BEIS Comms.
Chris Swoffer — BEIS Comms
Adam Shortman — BEIS Comms
Richard Beckett — BEIS Finance
Removed from list (with effect from as indicated)
Richard Callard — UKGI (POL Shareholder Team) — w/e 12 September 2018
Helen Lambert — UKGI (Legal Team) — w/e 17 September 2018
Duncan Moss — BEIS Comms — w/e 03 December 2018
Syed Maghrabi — BEIS Finance — w/e from 16 January 2019
Sam White — BEIS Policy Sponsor for POL — w/e from 4 February 2019
Gavin Lambert — BEIS Policy Champion
Joshua Fox — UKGI (Legal Team) — w/e from 29 April 2019
Craig Watson — BEIS Policy Sponsor Team for POL
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