HC Deb 04 July 1956 vol 555 cc1327-9
45. Mr. Younger

asked the Lord Privy Seal whether it was on Government instructions or with Government approval that the Atomic Energy Authority recently sent a questionnaire to atomic workers requiring from them information about the persons to whom they are married or whom they might be intending to marry; and whether he will make a statement.

The Lord Privy Seal (Mr. R. A. Butler)

The Atomic Energy Authority requires its staff to inform the Authority if they marry or remarry; and it requires any woman officer to give notice if she intends to marry an alien or if her husband intends to become naturalised in another country. These regulations were not issued on my noble Friend's instructions, but he has authorised me to say that they have his approval. It is necessary for the Authority to have this information for both establishment and security reasons.

Mr. Younger

In view of the statement of the right hon. and gallant Gentleman the Home Secretary in the general debate on security procedure that nothing new was being introduced, can the Lord Privy Seal say whether that statement covered this position, or is it an innovation? Secondly, can he say whether the employees of the Atomic Energy Authority are the only persons to whom this applies, or is it applied to everybody who handles top secret information, no matter what their status, including, for instance, chiefs of staff and others of that sort of standing?

Mr. Butler

I think that the best thing I can do is to refer the right hon. Gentleman to the Command Paper, Statement on the Findings of the Conference of Privy Councillors on Security, which in paragraph 15 used the following words: They"— that is, the Privy Councillors— recommend that an individual who is living with a wife or husband who is a Communist or a Communist sympathiser may for that reason alone have to be moved from secret work. That indicates that there is anxiety on this score. It is against that background that the Atomic Energy Authority has taken this step.

Mr. Younger

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that I am not challenging that statement in the White Paper? I asked him whether persons subjected to this particular procedure are selected entirely because of the type of material which they handle and, if so, whether it applies to all other [...]ons, irrespective of their status, who [...] similar material.

Mr. Butler

I can reply only for the Atomic Energy Authority. If the right hon. Gentleman wishes to extend the scope of his Question, I shall be glad to answer it, if he puts it down.

Mr. G. R. Strauss

Is not this an innovation in the Atomic Energy Authority? Is it not a new administrative practice?

Mr. Butler

This was issued on 11th May, 1956. It is, to that extent, new.

Mr. Shinwell

Is not this going a bit too far? What happens if the Atomic Energy Authority decides that a person should not be permitted to marry somebody? What happens in consequence? Are they to be allowed to live together, but not to marry? Are not the Government and the Atomic Energy Authority now conniving at sin?

Mr. Butler

There are limitations to the moral hegemony of the Atomic Energy Authority, and I do not think that it will attempt to lay down a moral definition of the marital or non-marital state. It is interested not so much in the ethics of the situation but two considerations to which I have referred. One is for establishment reasons, because, as the House will be aware, the Authority has to know about the marital status of its employees as that affects superannuation benefits. That is the administrative side. The other aspect relates to security, to which I have referred, so that there are those two considerations in the mind of the Authority in laying down these rules.

Mr. Shinwell

Will the right hon. Gentleman reconsider this matter? Are we not making a laughing stock of ourselves? If he insists on going ahead with this, will he apply it to members of the Government? Are they to get away with it and marry anybody they like?

Mr. Butler

The right hon. Gentleman must differentiate between general views on ethics, which anybody is allowed to hold, and the view on security which must be held by the Atomic Energy Authority. The Government are satisfied about their own security precautions.