Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, is to set out new guidance to civil servants to cover blogging and online social networks following the demise of the “Civil Serf” blogger, The Times has learnt.

Sir Gus will shortly issue guidelines to tell officials whether they can start up blogs or use social networking websites such as Facebook and YouTube, and even if they can change details on Wikipedia.

A Cabinet Office spokesman denied that the move was directly linked with the Civil Serf blogger, believed to work for the Department for Work and Pensions, who has embarrassed Westminster with her revelations about officials and ministers.

The 33-year-old Londoner, who has yet be named, has ridiculed Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, and Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, as well as accusing the Government of recycling old policies and creating “cheap headlines”.

She has attacked Whitehall’s lack of innovation insisting: “There is a strong sense of deja vu in the land of surfdom.”

She has also claimed that senior politicians are often indecisive and lazy. “Ministers only take decisions at the weekend (probably) because they have their spouse and /or political adviser to do it for them.”

Her website was taken down on Sunday night, fuelling speculation that she had been identified or had gone to ground for fear of being found out.

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions declined to comment yesterday on whether anyone had been unmasked.

The Cabinet Office disclosed today that officials were drawing up the new guidelines in response to an independent report last year called The Power of Information.

The report, published in January 2007, called for the Government to clarify by last autumn how officials should respond to “the online debate” while keeping within the civil service code. Only certain civil servants, such as those dealing with the media, are expected to make public statements.

The new code is likely to restrict information disclosed on blogs or social networks and limit the individuals who can interact with them.

A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said that the response to the report, which is expected to touch on Civil Serf had been delayed to ensure that it covered all issues.

“This is clearly a rapidly evolving and increasingly complex area, and it is important that we spend time getting the guidance right,” said the spokesman.

Civil Serf, who began posting in November, has frequently mentioned Peter Hain, the former Works and Pensions Secretary, prompting speculation that she worked in his department.

Explore Tech & Web

• Personal Tech

• The Web

• Gadgets & Gaming