Bribery Bill [HL]

My Lords, I also have amendments in this group. I shall speak to Amendments 23, 24, 25, 27 and 31, which were designed to explore as precisely as possible how the defence in Clause 12 might be used by the security and intelligence services and by whom. Amendment 23 would obviously have a similar effect to the amendment that the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, has just moved. As the noble Lord explained in his introduction, they are reflections of the observation by the Select Committee on the Constitution that it is not self-evident that the Clause 12 defence, ""should extend also to the Services’ statutory function ‘to safeguard the economic well-being of the United Kingdom’"." The point that the committee was trying to make, and which I would like the Minister to address, is that there may be a valid reason for allowing the defence to bribery to apply in circumstances beyond those where the security of the country is involved, and where other considerations, in this case economic ones, are at play. Once again, this is a good opportunity for the Minister to set out to the Committee his case for Clause 12(1)(b). We will listen carefully to what he has to say. The other amendments in my group are also probing in nature. Amendments 24 and 25, on which Amendment 31 is consequential, would remove GCHQ from the lists of bodies in paragraph 12(1)(b) that may use that defence. The report of the Constitution Committee queries why GCHQ might need to be able to bribe for a legitimate purpose. While I do not think I would expect the noble Lord to go into the minutiae of Security Service operations, could he say something here to justify the scope of Clause 12? Amendment 27 is more concerned with the mechanics of the defence, by which I mean the practicalities of raising it. In paragraph 13 of the Constitution Committee’s report, it is recommended that the use of the defence should require prior authorisation from—in the case of the intelligence services—the Secretary of State. I hope the Minister can explain how any officers who have been required to bribe others received their authorisation. If officers for agencies of the state have acted legitimately, why do they require the defence in Clause 12? Is it not the case that the relevant Secretary of State should know what is being done on his instruction? If that is so, why would charges be brought? At what point in the process does ministerial responsibility take hold? I hope the Minister can address those points. Again, as I stressed in speaking to earlier amendments, these are probing amendments and we hope to hear what the Minister has to say.