Formal Minutes
Tuesday 19 July 2011
Members present:
Rt Hon Keith Vaz, in the Chair
| Nicola Blackwood
James Clappison
Michael Ellis
Lorraine Fullbrook
Dr Julian Huppert
| | Steve McCabe
Rt Hon Alun Michael
Bridget Phillipson
Mark Reckless
Mr David Winnick
|
Draft Report (Unauthorised tapping or hacking of mobile communications),
proposed by the Chair, brought up and read.
Ordered, That the draft
Report be read a second time, paragraph by paragraph.
Paragraph 1 read, amended and agreed to.
A paragraph—(Nicola Blackwood)—brought
up, read the first and second time, and inserted (now paragraph
2).
Paragraphs 2 and 3 (now paragraphs 3 and 4) read,
amended and agreed to.
Paragraph 4 (now paragraph 5) read and agreed to.
Paragraphs 5 to 8 (now paragraphs 6 to 9) read, amended
and agreed to.
Paragraph 9 (now paragraph 10) read and agreed to.
Paragraphs 10 and 11 (now paragraphs 11 and 12)
read, amended and agreed to.
Paragraph 12 (now paragraph 13) read and agreed to.
Paragraphs 13 and 14 (now paragraphs 14 and 15) read,
amended and agreed to.
Paragraph 15 (now paragraph 16) read and agreed to.
Paragraphs 16 to 19 (now paragraphs 17 to 20) read,
amended and agreed to.
Paragraph 20 (now paragraph 21) read and agreed to.
Paragraph 21 (now paragraph 22) read, amended and
agreed to.
A paragraph—(Mark Reckless)—brought
up, read the first and second time, and inserted (now paragraph
23).
Paragraphs 22 to 24 (now paragraphs 24 to 26) read
and agreed to.
Paragraphs 25 and 26 (now paragraphs 27 and 28) read,
amended and agreed to.
Paragraphs 27 and 28 (now paragraphs 29 and 30) read
and agreed to.
Paragraph 29 (now paragraph 31) read, amended and
agreed to.
A paragraph—(Mark Reckless)—brought
up, read the first and second time, and inserted (now paragraph
32).
Paragraph 30 (now paragraph 33) read and agreed to.
Paragraphs 31 to 33 read as follows:
We do not intend to become involved in the dispute
over what exactly the CPS advised and when. It is clear to us
that the police in 2006 were of the view that a narrow construction
of the statute should be taken, and that in October 2010 the current
Director of Public Prosecutions suggested a wider construction
should be adopted for testing in the courts. In practice, these
are the only two facts that matter because they have helped to
determine—although, as we explain below, they have been
far from the sole determinant of—the police approach to
the hacking investigations.
More pertinently for the future, prosecutors and
police are currently no more certain of the correct construction
of section 1 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act than
they were in 2006: as the Director of Public Prosecutions has
made very clear, he is merely suggesting a wider interpretation
should be tested, not that it is the correct interpretation.
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act seems
to have been drafted with certain means of communication in mind:
letters by post, e-mails, telephone calls from landlines and mobile
phones. Technological developments in the storage and retrieval
of data by people 'on the move' quickly render legislation on
communications out-of-date, and in particular pose problems of
deciding exactly when communications are 'in transmission'. At
the very least, the legislation needs to be amended to end the
uncertainty over whether messages already heard or read by the
proper recipient are covered by the provisions; in our opinion,
such messages should fall within the scope of the section 1 offence.
Ideally, though it would be challenging to draft, Chapter 1 of
the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act requires a complete
overhaul to adapt the provisions not only to the current state
of communications technology but also as far as possible to make
it easier to reflect future technological developments.
Paragraphs disagreed to.
A new paragraph (now paragraph 34)—(Mark
Reckless) —brought up, read the first and second time,
and inserted.
Another new paragraph (now paragraph 35)—(Mark
Reckless) —brought up, read the first and second time,
and inserted.
Paragraph 34 (now paragraph 36) read, amended and
agreed to.
Paragraph 35 (now paragraph 37) read and agreed to.
Paragraphs 36 to 38 (now paragraph 38 to 40) read,
amended and agreed to.
A new paragraph (now paragraph 41)—(Dr Julian
Huppert) —brought up, read the first and second time,
and inserted.
Another new paragraph (now paragraph 42)—(Dr
Julian Huppert) —brought up, read the first and second
time, and inserted.
Paragraphs 39 and 40 (now paragraphs 43 and 44) read
and agreed to.
Paragraph 41 (now paragraph 45) read, amended and
agreed to.
Paragraph 42 read and disagreed to.
Paragraphs 43 and 44 (now paragraphs 46 and 47) read,
amended and agreed to.
Paragraph 45 (now paragraph 48) read and agreed to.
Paragraphs 46 to 52 (now paragraphs 49 to 55) read,
amended and agreed to.
Paragraphs 53 and 54 (now paragraphs 56 and 57) read
and agreed to.
Paragraph 55 (now paragraph 58) read, amended and
agreed to.
Paragraphs 56 and 57 (now paragraph 59 and 60) read
and agreed to.
Paragraphs 58 to 60 (now paragraphs 61 to 63) read,
amended and agreed to.
Paragraphs 61 to 63 (now paragraphs 64 to 66) read
and agreed to.
Paragraphs 64 to 69 (now paragraphs 67 to 72) read,
amended and agreed to.
Paragraph 70 (now paragraph 73) read and agreed to.
Paragraphs 71 to 74 (now paragraphs 74 to 77) read,
amended and agreed to.
Paragraphs 75 and 76 (now paragraphs 78 and 79) read
and agreed to.
Paragraph 77 (now paragraph 80) read, amended and
agreed to.
Paragraph 78 (now paragraph 81) read and agreed to.
Paragraph 79 (now paragraph 82) read, amended and
agreed to.
A new paragraph (now paragraph 83)—(The
Chair) —brought up, read the first and second time,
and inserted.
Another new paragraph (now paragraph 84)—(The
Chair) —brought up, read the first and second time,
and inserted.
Another new paragraph (now paragraph 85)—(The
Chair) —brought up, read the first and second time,
and inserted.
Another new paragraph (now paragraph 86)—(The
Chair) —brought up, read the first and second time,
and inserted.
Paragraph 80 (now paragraph 87) read and agreed to.
Paragraphs 81 and 82 (now paragraphs 88 and 89) read,
amended and agreed to.
Paragraphs 83 and 84 (now paragraph 90 and 91) read
and agreed to.
Paragraphs 85 to 87 (now paragraphs 92 to 94) read,
amended and agreed to.
A new paragraph (now paragraph 95)—(The
Chair) —brought up, read the first and second time,
and inserted.
Paragraph 88 (now paragraph 96) read and agreed to.
Paragraphs 89 and 90 (now paragraphs 97 and 98) read,
amended and agreed to.
Paragraph 91 (now paragraph 99) read and agreed to.
Paragraph 92 (now paragraph 100) read, amended and
agreed to.
Paragraph 93 (now paragraph 101) read and agreed
to.
Paragraph 94 (now paragraph 102) read, amended and
agreed to.
Paragraphs 95 to 101 (now paragraphs 103 to 109)
read and agreed to.
Paragraphs 102 and 103 (now paragraphs 110 and 111)
read, amended and agreed to.
Paragraphs 104 to 107 (now paragraphs 112 to 115)
read and agreed to.
Paragraph 108 (now paragraph 116) read, amended and
agreed to.
Paragraph 109 (now paragraph 117) read and agreed
to.
Paragraph 110 (now paragraph 118) read, amended and
agreed to.
Paragraphs 111 to 113 (now paragraphs 119 to 121)
read and agreed to.
A new paragraph (now paragraph 122)—(Dr
Julian Huppert) —brought up, read the first and second
time, and added.
A paper was appended to the Report as Appendix 1.
Resolved, That the Report,
as amended, be the Thirteenth Report of the Committee to the House.
Ordered, That the Chair
make the Report to the House.
Ordered, That embargoed
copies of the Report be made available, in accordance with the
provisions of Standing Order No. 134.
[Adjourned till Tuesday 6 September at 10.30 a.m.
| 
