That said, words sometimes matter, and the clearer the statement, the better. I hope that my right hon. Friends on the Treasury Bench will take that into account.
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We ourselves had originally suggested, before this Bill was introduced, that privacy protection should form the backbone, around which the exceptional powers of intrusion should then be built. We rather regretted the fact that that was not present when the Bill was first introduced, but we have now made a great deal of progress. Yet we still think it could do with improvement, and that was the context in which we tabled amendment 14. As I said a few moments ago in my intervention, it simply
“sets out the extent to which certain investigatory powers may be used to interfere with…privacy.”
If I may say so, it is entirely complementary and compatible with both the Government new clause and the amendment proposed by the hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras. I hope that the Government will consider whether building such a statement on the face of the Bill, along with the other changes, might be of value in providing public reassurance about what the House intends and particularly the powers we intend to give to the Government and the agencies as a result.
Let me turn to new clause 4. I tabled it as a probing amendment, but I very much hope that the Government will take it carefully into consideration. I intervened on the Minister because I wanted to highlight the extent to which penalties for misuse of the powers that we are
providing under this legislation remain entirely scattered within the legislation itself or even in some cases have to be found elsewhere. Here are powers that we are providing for, which are capable of revealing the most sensitive and detailed information about a person’s private life, so if misuse were to occur, it must be viewed as a very serious matter.
In my role as Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, I have great confidence in the ethical standards of the agencies, but that is not to say that we can disregard this issue. Neither is it entirely adequate to say that in many cases, particularly if of a rather venal character, it should be a matter simply of dismissal, even though that would of course be a substantial sanction for the individual concerned. I think Parliament is entitled to expect that the powers will not be misused and that there is adequate punishment if they are.
In those circumstances, it is worth bearing in mind that although some of the misuses might fall under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, the offences are not comprehensive, not clear and in some cases appear to be rather inadequate—punishable only under the Data Protection Act 1998 or under the current common law offence of misconduct in public office. As many Members who are lawyers will know, it is very hard to prosecute for that offence and in any event it is inadequate to meet much of mischief to which it is aimed.
I would be grateful—I repeat my request to the Minister—if he could provide as quickly as possible through his officials, a run-down of all the offences that could be committed under the misuse provisions of the Bill, so that the House can have a clear understanding of what is covered by what offence, which offences appear in the Bill and which are covered only by misconduct in public office or the Data Protection Act 1998.