House of Commons Public Bill Committee Proceedings

Session 2012 - 13
Internet Publications
Other Bills before Parliament

17

House of Commons

Thursday 7 February 2013

Public Bill Committee Proceedings

Justice and Security Bill [Lords]

[SEVENTH AND EIGHTH SITTINGS]

James Brokenshire

Agreed to  65

Clause  10,  page  7,  line  31,  leave out subsections (4) and (5) and insert—

‘(4)
The following proceedings are to be treated as section 6 proceedings for the

purposes of sections 7 to 9, this section and section 11—

(a)
proceedings on, or in relation to, an application for a declaration under

section 6;

(b)
proceedings on, or in relation to, a decision of the court to make a

declaration under that section of its own motion.

(5)
In proceedings treated as section 6 proceedings by virtue of subsection (4), a

relevant person, for the purposes of sections 7 to 9, this section and section 11, is

a person who would be required to disclose sensitive material in the course of the

proceedings.’.

Mr Andy Slaughter

Withdrawn  77

Clause  10,  page  7,  line  36,  at end add—

‘(6)
Rules of court relating to section 6 proceedings must make provision—

(a)
to ensure that the burden of proof in section 6 proceedings shall be on the

relevant person and, where a party, the Secretary of State,

(b)
to ensure that, upon the Secretary of State making an application under

section 6(1), he shall be obliged to make full and frank unredacted

disclosure to the court and special advocate of all material and

information relevant to—

(i)
the issues in the action,

(ii)
the admissability of any evidence in section 6 procedings,

(iii)
the reliability of any such evidence,

(iv)
the existence of witnesses or lines of inquiry leading to the

discovery of relevant material, or

(v)
the appropriate court procedure for determining the issues in the

claim,

(c)
to ensure that any material which the special advocate represents may

have been procured by torture or by cruel, inhumane or degrading

treatment is ruled inadmissable unless the contrary is proved to a high

degree of conviction,

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 7 February 2013
18

Justice and Security Bill [Lords] continued

(d)
to ensure that opinion evidence is ruled inadmissible unless provided by

an independent expert,

(e)
to ensure that the court shall not without the consent of the special

advocate admit any statement constituting hearsay evidence without—

(i)
the source being identified to the court’s satisfaction,

(ii)
the court being satisfied that it is impracticable for the source to

provide live evidence to the court by oral evidence or video-link

and to be available for cross-examination, and

(iii)
the court being satisfied that the words of the source are reported

or recorded accurately and there is no risk of significant

misquotation through multiple hearsay or otherwise,

(f)
to ensure that the costs of all the parties to any proceedings in which a

declaration under section 6 is made shall be paid by the Secretary of State

in any event,

(g)
to ensure that any judgement or decision of the court in any proceedings

in which a section 6 declaration is sought shall be deemed to be an

interlocutory judgement and any party excluded from such proceedings

may at any time apply to the court to set aside such judgement or decision

on the basis of relevant evidence not reasonably available to that party at

the time of the section 6 proceedings.’.

Clause, as amended, Agreed to.

James Brokenshire

Agreed to  66

Clause  11,  page  8,  line  10,  leave out ‘(4)’ and insert ‘(1G)’.

James Brokenshire

Agreed to  67

Clause  11,  page  8,  line  14,  at end insert—

‘“sensitive material” has the meaning given by section 6(9),’.

Clause, as amended, Agreed to.

Clauses 12 and 13 Agreed to.

Diana Johnson

Negatived on division  78

Clause  14,  page  11,  line  14,  at end insert ‘where that information relates to national

security or the interests of the United Kingdom’.

Diana Johnson

Not called  79

Clause  14,  page  11,  line  15,  leave out ‘an’ and insert ‘a foreign’.

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 7 February 2013
19

Justice and Security Bill [Lords] continued

Diana Johnson

Not called  80

Clause  14,  page  11,  line  17,  leave out ‘an’ and insert ‘a foreign’.

Diana Johnson

Not called  81

Clause  14,  page  11,  line  18,  leave out paragraph (d).

Clause Agreed to.

Clauses 15 and 16 Agreed to.

James Brokenshire

Agreed to  49

Schedule  2,  page  17,  line  30,   at end insert—

‘Data Protection Act 1998 (c. 29)

1A
In section 63A of the Data Protection Act 1998 (application to Parliament)—

(a)
in subsection (2), after “Commons,” insert “other than where they are

determined by or on behalf of the Intelligence and Security Committee

of Parliament,”, and

(b)
in subsection (3), after “Lords,” insert “other than where they are

determined by or on behalf of the Intelligence and Security Committee

of Parliament,”.’.

James Brokenshire

Agreed to  50

Schedule  2,  page  18,  line  4,   at end insert—

‘Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36)

3A  (1)
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 is amended as follows.

      (2)
In section 23 (information supplied by, or relating to, bodies dealing with

security matters), in subsection (3), at the end insert—

“(o)
the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament.”

      (3)
In Part 1 of Schedule 1 (Public Authorities; General)—

(a)
in paragraph 2, after paragraph (d) insert—

“(e)
information held by the Intelligence and Security

Committee of Parliament.”;

(b)
in paragraph 3, after paragraph (d) insert—

“(e)
information held by the Intelligence and Security

Committee of Parliament.”’.

Schedule, as amended, Agreed to.

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 7 February 2013
20

Justice and Security Bill [Lords] continued

James Brokenshire

Agreed to  51

Schedule  3,  page  21,  line  22,  after ‘Committee’, insert ‘of Parliament’.

Schedule, as amended, Agreed to.

James Brokenshire

Agreed to  34

Clause  17,  page  14,  line  1,  leave out subsection (8).

Clause, as amended, Agreed to.

New Clauses

Review and revocation of declaration under section 6

James Brokenshire

Added  NC5

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
This section applies where a court seised of relevant civil proceedings has made

a declaration under section 6.

(2)
The court must keep the declaration under review, and may at any time revoke it

if it considers that the declaration is no longer in the interests of the fair and

effective administration of justice in the proceedings.

(3)
The court must undertake a formal review of the declaration once the pre-trial

disclosure exercise in the proceedings has been completed, and must revoke it if

it considers that the declaration is no longer in the interests of the fair and

effective administration of justice in the proceedings.

(4)
The court may revoke a declaration under subsection (2) or (3)—

(a)
on the application of—

(i)
the Secretary of State (whether or not the Secretary of State is a

party to the proceedings), or

(ii)
any party to the proceedings, or

(b)
of its own motion.

(5)
In deciding for the purposes of subsection (2) or (3) whether a declaration

continues to be in the interests of the fair and effective administration of justice

in the proceedings, the court must consider all of the material that has been put

before it in the course of the proceedings (and not just the material on which the

decision to make the declaration was based).

(6)
Rules of court must make provision—

(a)
as to how a formal review is to be conducted under subsection (3);

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 7 February 2013
21

Justice and Security Bill [Lords] continued

(b)
as to when the pre-trial disclosure exercise is to be considered to have

been completed for the purposes of subsection (3).’.

Reporting and review

Dr Julian Huppert

Mike Crockart

Withdrawn  NC1

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
As soon as reasonably practicable after the end of every three-month period the

Secretary of State must—

(a)
prepare a report about his exercise of the powers conferred on him under

this Part of this Act during that period; and

(b)
lay a copy of that Report before Parliament.

(2)
The person appointed by the Secretary of State to review the operation of the

provisions of the Terrorism Act 2000 and Part 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006 must

also carry out an annual review of the operation of the provisions of this Part of

this Act.’.

Annual renewal

Dr Julian Huppert

Mike Crockart

Second reading negatived on division  NC2

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
The Secretary of State’s powers under Part 2 of this Act expire at the end of the

period of one year beginning with the day on which this Act is passed.

(2)
The Secretary of State may, by order made by statutory instrument, provide that

the Secretary of State’s powers under Part 2 of this Act are not to expire at the

time when they would otherwise expire under subsection (1) or in accordance

with an order under this subsection but are to continue in force after that time for

a period not exceeding one year.

(3)
An order under this section may not be made unless a draft of it has been laid

before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House.’.

Criminal, civil and disciplinary proceedings and tribunals: disclosure of information held

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 7 February 2013
22

Justice and Security Bill [Lords] continued

by the ISC

Dr Julian Lewis

Not called  NC3

To move the following Clause:—

‘Information held by the ISC in connection with the discharge of its functions

under sections 1 to 4 and Schedule 1 may not be disclosed in any criminal, civil

or disciplinary proceedings or tribunal.’.

Publication or disclosure of information by the ISC

Dr Julian Lewis

Not called  NC4

To move the following Clause:—

‘The ISC may not disclose or publish information if such a disclosure or

publication by a person subject to the Official Secrets Act 1989 would be

considered an offence for that person under that Act.’.

Access to special advocates: public interest immunity

Mr Andy Slaughter

Not called  NC6

To move the following Clause:—

‘In any proceedings where a relevant person or the Secretary of State successfully

claims public interest immunity over any material on the grounds that its

disclosure would damage the interests of national security—

(a)
any other party shall be entitled upon application to the court to have a

special advocate appointed to inspect such material; and

(b)
the special advocate shall be entitled to advise that party whether it would

be in that party’s interests to apply for a declaration under this section.’.

Open statements for closed judgements

Mr Andy Slaughter

Not called  NC7

To move the following Clause:—

‘Closed judgements must be accompanied by an open statement from the court,

which shall include—

(a)
the reasons for the closed material procedure;

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 7 February 2013
23

Justice and Security Bill [Lords] continued

(b)
any factors which would be particularly relevant in determining whether

all or part of the closed judgement could be made open at a later date;

(c)
the duration of open hearings and closed hearings;

(d)
the number of witnesses heard in closed proceedings, and the nature of

those witnesses;

(e)
the length of a closed judgement;

(f)
whether national security was an issue in the proceedings; and

(g)
the date at which the closed status of the judgement should be reviewed,

which must be no later than five years from the date of the judgement.’.

Recording of data relating to closed proceedings

Mr Andy Slaughter

Not called  NC8

To move the following Clause:—

‘Rules of court relating to closed material proceedings under this Act, and

applications for them, must make provision—

(a)
ensuring that key data is centrally recorded for all proceedings, including:

(i)
the duration of open and closed proceedings,

(ii)
the number of witnesses heard in closed proceedings and the

nature of those witnesses,

(iii)
the length of a closed judgement,

(iv)
whether the claimant, defendant and/or intervener applied for

closed material proceedings, and

(v)
whether the claimant, defendant and/or intervener contested the

application for closed proceedings.

(b)
ensuring that centrally recorded data is available to the independent

person appointed by the Secretary of State to review the operation of the

provisions of the Terrorism Act 2000 and Part 1 of the Terrorism Act

2006, and

(c)
ensuring that centrally recorded data is subject to the provisions of the

Freedom of Information Act 2000.’.

Disclosure judge

Mr Andy Slaughter

Not called  NC9

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
The jurisdiction of the court in section 6 proceedings shall be exercised by a judge

designated by the Lord Chief Justice for such purposes.

(2)
A judge so designated shall be referred to as the “disclosure judge”.



© Parliamentary copyright	Revised 8 February 2013