Michael Gove has come under fire for reportedly using his private emails for government business, after saying that a previous incident by an official was an "isolated incident".
Shadow education secretary Andy Burnham told the Huffington Post UK that the use of unofficial email accounts "clearly goes right to the top" and showed a "blatant disregard for the established processes of government".
"We learn today that Michael Gove himself has used private emails for government business and failed to release this information under the Freedom of Information Act," Burnham said.
"Knowing this, it begs the question how such a misleading answer could be given to a Member of Parliament," he said.
On the 31 August the Huffington Post UK revealed that an official working at the DfE used his Hotmail account to apparently put pressure on a primary school in England to convert to academy status.
The official's emails were sent from his Blackberry, and were a clear breach of the rules issued to officials in the department, which state:
Never use non-DFE e-mail services (such as your own personal internet e-mail account on Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL, MobileMe, etc.) to carry out departmental business.
Gove subsequently wrote an apology to the Labour MP who complained about the incident. In his letter dated 14 September, Gove wrote:
"The guidance to staff in the Department for Education is very clear: they must never use personal email accounts on official business.
"As soon as the department was alerted by a press report to a single use of a Hotmail account in communication with a school about Academy options, the breach of the guidance was investigated."
Gove added that the email was the work of a "contractor" who no longer works for the department, adding that if they had still been employed, they would have been fired for breaking the rules.
He said: "I regret this isolated incident especially because I know that staff in the Department for Education work to the highest standards in supporting schools to become academies".
But the education secretary's claim that it was a one-off appear to be contradicted by a report in the Financial Times which suggests he often used personal email accounts, including his wife's, to communicate.
The FT has claimed to have seen emails sent by the education secretary to his advisers in which he discussed issues that appeared to be government business including schools literacy programmes.
While it is not against the law to use private email accounts to discuss official business, it is illegal to do so in order to deliberately avoid Freedom of Information requests and the Information Commissioner is investigating the allegations.
The department has insisted that the private email exchanges were concerned with Conservative Party business rather than government business.
But education select committee member Bill Esterson questioned what Michael Gove and his officials were "trying to hide".
"It does seem extremely odd that government ministers and officials are using personal email addresses when this is in clear breach of government rules", he told Huffington Post UK.
A spokesperson for the information commissioner said inquiries were ongoing: "The Information Commissioner has written to the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education to raise concerns about the Department’s handling of freedom of information requests. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage."
A department of education spokesman said: "The Permanent Secretary has made clear he is satisfied that Ministers and special advisers act within the law.”
This is a developing story...