Most ministers and state secretaries of the Rutte IV Cabinet sometimes use their private email for work. They also often send messages about work via services such as WhatsApp and Telegram with their private phones. Minister Hanke Bruins Slot (Internal Affairs, CDA) writes this on Friday a letter to the House of Representatives.
Bruins Slot made inquiries after Minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Housing, CDA) admitted at the beginning of this month that he had used his private e-mail in the past, including for communication about corona matters. Due to the sensitivity of the information, ministers and secretaries of state are strongly discouraged from using their own email for work.
In total, 16 of the 29 ministers used their private email for work, 15 of them used their private telephone. Most of the ministers who use their private e-mail for work do so occasionally. They mainly did this in the initial phase after being sworn in, for example to edit or print a document or to forward a message or invitation to a business account. In some cases, they forwarded meeting links or documents to a private email account.
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A number of ministers who used WhatsApp or Telegram did so because the business telephone was not working properly or had poor reception, or because they wanted to quickly forward a news message. Bruins Slot also writes that the private numbers of the ministers and state secretaries are known in their administrative network and that they are therefore also contacted on those telephone numbers. According to the minister, the use of private e-mail and private telephones has not had any negative consequences for security.
