Special Report
1. On 22 May 2012 the House of Commons referred the
matter of privilege raised in Chapter 8 of the Eleventh Report
from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of Session 2010-12,
News International and Phone Hacking[1],
to this Committee. The Culture, Media and Sport Committee considered
it had been misled by Mr Les Hinton, Mr Tom Crone, and Mr Colin
Myler. The Committee also considered that corporately News International
and News of the World had misled it. We have decided to reopen
the inquiry, which has been suspended since September 2012 both
as a consequence of the arrest of one of the inquiry subjects
and to avoid interference with the case of R v Coulson and
others.
2. Freedom of speech in Parliament is untrammelled.
Nonetheless in practice Committees have taken care not to act
in ways which might interfere with the course of justice. The
Culture, Media and Sport Committee took that approach in its original
inquiry.[2] The Committee
of Privileges has also considered it important that matters dealt
with by the Committee should not relate directly to material which
is before the courts or could come before the courts in the near
future. For that reason, we consulted the Director of Public Prosecutions
about the potential risks in conducting any inquiry before deciding
to suspend the inquiry in 2012.
3. The Committee will continue to be cautious in
ensuring its actions do not interfere with those of the courts.
So, for example, although Parliament is not bound by court orders,
such as reporting restrictions, we consider it would be wrong
to act in a way which might encourage others to breach those restrictions.
4. The Committee understands that the question of
criminal proceedings against a corporate body is still under consideration.
There are also reporting restrictions on some matters relating
to the case of R v Coulson and others imposed by the order
pursuant to 4(2) of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 made by the
Hon Mr Justice Saunders on 31 October 2014. In view of this, the
Committee is not proceeding with the allegations relating to corporate
liability at this time. As the cases most closely connected with
the Culture, Media and Sport Committee's inquiry have now concluded,
the Committee has invited submissions from Mr Tom Crone, Mr Les
Hinton and Mr Colin Myler in response to the allegations that
they misled the Culture, Media and Sport Committee.
5. The Committee made its decisions on suspending
and resuming its inquiries on the basis that that there is a balance
to be struck between the need to protect the course of justice
and the need to ensure that committees can proceed with matters
referred to them by the House. There is a public interest in ensuring
the statements made to Committees are truthful, so that public
policy can be based on the best possible evidence. Each House
of Parliament needs to be able to investigate allegations that
evidence has been intentionally misleading as promptly and effectively
as possible. Suspending privilege inquiries for indefinite periods
may also be undesirable for those who are the subject of inquiry,
and this is taken into account in determining whether to proceed
or to suspend an inquiry. The Committee considers that delays
to parliamentary proceedings should be proportionate to the risk
that those proceedings might affect matters before the courts.
We are very grateful to the Director of Public Prosecution and
the Crown Prosecution Service in providing information which allowed
the Committee to assess those risks both when the inquiry was
suspended and when decisions were taken about the resumption of
some parts of it. This was entirely a matter for us. The prosecuting
authorities have been scrupulous in ensuring that they did not
trespass on matters which were properly for the Committee, while
being as helpful as they could.
1 Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Eleventh Report
of Session 2010-12, News International and Phone-hacking,
HC 903-I Back
2
Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Eleventh Report of Session
2010-12, News International and Phone-hacking ,
HC 903-I, para 13 Back
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