Treasury permanent secretary Sir Nicholas Macpherson conducted a review into the pre-release of information to journalists after the London Evening Standard revealed information on this year’s budget before the chancellor had delivered his speech. McPherson said all permanent civil servants should be banned from pre-releasing “core” information, such as economic and fiscal projections, and individual taxes. But the committee believes this ban should be extended to special advisers and ministers, and include all budget information, to prevent “politically motivated judgements about whether data is core or non-core”.