Statistics and Registration Service Bill

I beg your pardon, Madam Deputy Speaker. I meant to say that I wanted to speak to amendments Nos. 27, 60 and 61 before turning to the amendments tabled by Opposition Members. Amendments Nos. 60 and 61 permit disclosure of personal data by the board to the Security Service, the Secret Intelligence Service and GCHQ in the interests of national security. In effect, that replicates the current position, which is understood and accepted to be that where the intelligence services can make a principled case for access to information—in cases where there is no specific statutory bar on disclosure of the information—restrictions on disclosure could be overridden in the public interest. The current position could not continue without our amendments, because the Bill does what it is designed to do; it tightens the provisions for data sharing, allowing the board in the future to consider disclosure only in the specific circumstances set out in the exceptions under clause 36(4). If clause 36 remained as currently drafted, the board could face a criminal prosecution if it made a disclosure in the interests of national security. Amendment No. 60 will ensure that the statistics board is not restricted from making a disclosure to the security services in the future, should that be regarded as necessary for the purposes of the national security. I recognise that the amendment may raise questions and I apologise to the House for its being tabled on Report, rather than being part of the Bill’s consideration in Committee. We have spent a considerable time ensuring that we adopt the right and proportionate approach. The hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) asked whether paragraphs (e) and (f) of clause 36(4) cover the needs in such circumstances. The intelligence services have pointed out that the criminal investigations exception, for instance, does not permit the sharing of information by the board in circumstances in which there may be a need to identify potential suspects following a tip-off that does not in itself provide sufficient grounds to launch a criminal investigation. Given that there is already an exemption for criminal investigations or proceedings in clause 36(4)(f) and the fact that ONS can at present make disclosures for the purposes of national security if a good enough case is made, it is difficult to argue that national security disclosures should not be permitted. Let me make a couple of other points that I hope that the hon. Gentleman and other hon. Members will find helpful. There is a process that means that the ONS currently, and the board in the future, will be in a position to decide not to disclose information. I hope that the points that I will make will help to settle any wider concerns that there may be. First, the amendment will allow, and not compel, disclosure by the board. There would be a discretionary gateway under which the board would be free to disclose information, if it was satisfied the disclosure fell within the terms of the Bill. Secondly, in practice, as would happen now if ONS were to receive such a request, the intelligence services would have to make the case for disclosure and the board would have to consider the matter on a case-by-case basis. Thirdly, it would be for the board to decide whether a particular disclosure was permissible under the Bill. I can therefore assure the House that the provision would not give the intelligence services the ability to go on a general fishing trip. The onus would be on the intelligence services to demonstrate their case. We expect that, in practice, they would need to submit a business case to the board to support each disclosure request, just as they, and criminal investigators or polices authorities, would do now if they wanted such information. Furthermore, I can assure the House that the amendment is considered compatible with the Human Rights Act 1998. Although it may engage article 8—the right to privacy article—of the European convention on human rights, because it provides the discretion to disclose information to the intelligence services, any interference can be considered justified under paragraph 2 of that article. Any disclosure that occurred could be justified as being in accordance with the law and necessary in a democratic society for a legitimate aim. May I turn to amendment No. 27?