My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendment 231ZE. These amendments are tabled in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Paddick. They are both probing amendments.
Clause 199 provides for time limits on certain examinations. I accept that the first of our amendments is technically not a good one—but it is a probing amendment. It would take out the subsection that states that the “permitted period”—I do not think I need for this purpose to spell out what it is—
“begins when the head of the intelligence service first forms”,
certain beliefs. My noble friend and I were intrigued as to how it could be established and recorded that someone had formed a belief—and, indeed, had first formed a belief. I am not sure about “first formed”,
because once a belief is formed, it is established, so it is not going to be formed a second time. But that is not the question, really. We felt that there was a danger that acknowledging the formation of the belief, which triggers the start of the period, could be delayed so that the period itself did not begin to run. So it is a question of safeguarding.
Amendment 231ZE would reduce the time before the permitted period comes to an end. It would make it one month rather than three months. The permitted period is the period in which the head of the intelligence service has to take certain steps—having, in effect, discovered that information which has been obtained includes data relating to individuals who are not, in fact, of interest to the service. So, overall, a good safeguarding clause would properly ensure that information which is not needed is dealt with in an appropriate way. Our concerns are that, having got as far as acknowledging the need for all of this, there are a couple of points at which the arrangements might not be applied as rigorously as one would expect. I beg to move.
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