The Cabinet Office is responsible for designing and enforcing measures to ensure the confidentiality and proper handling of documents within the Cabinet system. The Cabinet Office may issue detailed instructions periodically for this purpose and works closely with the Cabinet Liaison Officer in each Ministry to ensure compliance.

These instructions shall be based on the following principles:

Need to know
Documents submitted to and discussed by the Cabinet may not be disclosed except to those with a legitimate need to know. Both electronic and paper documents should be classified according to who may receive and view them.

Traceability
A common reference numbering system applies to all documents within the Cabinet system. All access to Cabinet documents should be authorized, with a written record kept of all Cabinet documents received or sent, which must be available for periodic inspection by the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office provides training to Cabinet Liaison Officers on how to manage Cabinet documents.