Human Rights Joint Committee - Twenty-Fourth Report
The Justice and Security Green Paper

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Here you can browse the report together with the Proceedings of the Committee. The published report was ordered by the House of Lords and the House of Commons to be printed 27 March 2012.

Contents

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Terms of Reference

Conclusions and recommendations

1  Introduction

The Government's case for change
The Fairness and Accountability Concern

The National Security Concern

The Rights and Principles at stake

The test to be applied by Parliament

Our inquiry

Publication of responses to the Government's consultation

The views of the judiciary

The scope of our Report

2  The scope of the Green Paper proposals

'Sensitive information' and 'harm to public interest'

The admissibility of intercept as evidence

3  Extending Closed Material Procedures to all civil proceedings

The Green Paper proposal

Evidence of the need for change

The inherent unfairness of Closed Material Procedures

Closed material procedures and public interest immunity compared

Public Interest Immunity

Closed Material Procedures

Summary of the main differences between PII and CMP

The importance of judicial balancing

The AF (No. 3) disclosure obligation

The reform options

Option (1): Extend CMPs to all civil proceedings

Option (2): CMP as a last resort and with judicial balancing

Option (3): Statutory amendment/clarification of PII in the national security context

4  Extending Closed Material Procedures to inquests

The Green Paper proposals

The case for change

Is there evidence of the need for change?

The reform options

Option (1): Extending CMPs to inquests

Option (2): Making intercept admissible in inquests

Option (3): Clarification of the application of PII to national security-sensitive material in inquests

5  Reforming the courts' Norwich Pharmacal jurisdiction

Evidence of the need for change

No absolute protection for the control principle

The reform options

Option (1): Remove the jurisdiction in cases against public bodies

Option (2): Remove the jurisdiction in cases where disclosure harms the public interest

Option (3): Put Norwich Pharmacal test on a statutory footing

Option (4): No legislation but introduce statutory CMPs into Norwich Pharmacal applications

Another way forward: Clarify application of PII to national security-sensitive material

6  The impact on media freedom and democratic accountability

The missing issue in the Green Paper

The principle of open justice

The effect on investigative journalism

The overall effect on the media

The effect on court reporting

The impact on public trust and confidence in the Government and the Courts

Possible safeguards for open justice

Conclusion

Formal Minutes

Declaration of Lords' Interests

Witnesses

List of written evidence

List of Reports from the Committee during the current Parliament

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Prepared 4 April 2012