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Dear Mrs A¬¬¬¬____,

You ask if she has any disabilities I know of. If I did know of any I would not be able to tell you under disability law and you are not able to ask her. In telling you she has no disabilities I may have committed an offence under discrimination law, and certainly against the spirit of the law, because I have unfairly discriminated in her favour against those with disabilities.

Either way your disclaimer suggests I write “No responsibility… can be accepted for any…inaccuracies … or damage that may result …”. This means I can and may be writing accurately or inaccurately without responsibility. Moreover you have stipulated the information given is confidential. Thus I expect you to talk to no one of what I write. If you have a similar disclaimer exonerating you from responsibility or accuracy and damage caused, you can go ahead. If your disclaimer is confidential, then so much the better; you don’t even need to inform me that your claim to confidentiality is not expected to be honoured.

You ask “Has the candidate been subject to any concerns, where the concern … was unfounded … If so, give details.” I won’t be obliged under law to do this, it is bad law. Moreover such concerns may have been covered by a similar confidentiality clause, similarly provisoed that they need not be accurate, so I would not have been able to give you the details you oblige me to give and may have made them up without the need to accept responsibility for the damage it would cause . But I tell you I have no cause for concern because I, as a decent human being, recommend K____; not because the law demands I tell you – and not – at the same time.

Yours sincerely,

Bill Brookman