HC Deb 14 May 1970 vol 801 cc1426-8
4. Mr. Arnold Shaw

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will take steps to enable the proposed committee on Privacy under the Chairmanship of Sir Kenneth Younger to investigate the intrusion on privacy by firms advertising their products by means of the telephone.

Mr. Callaghan

I will draw the Committee's attention to this matter. If my hon. Friend has any relevant information, I shall be glad if he will make it available to the Committee.

Mr. Shaw

I am much obliged for that reply. Is my right hon. Friend aware of this growing practice, particularly in my constituency? Would he not agree that this could cause a good deal of inconvenience and resentment among those at the wrong end of the telephone?

Mr. Callaghan

I have made certain inquiries into the matter. As far as I am aware it is not a widespread practice as yet and I certainly hope, for the sake of all of us, that it does not grow.

7. Sir L. Heald

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that the terms of reference of the Committee on Privacy have been confined to intrusions on privacy by private persons and organisations, or by companies, thereby debarring the Committee from considering intrusions by servants of the Crown or of public bodies such as the British Broadcasting Corporation; and whether he will amend the terms of reference so as to avoid such discrimination.

Mr. Callaghan

Civil servants act under the direction of Ministers, who are accountable to Parliament. There is no similar accountability by private persons and organisations.

As regards news gathering and publication by the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Independent Television Authority, I am assured that these organisations will co-operate with the Committee.

Sir L. Heald

Does the right hon. Gentleman not appreciate that the limitation of these terms of reference to intrusions by private, as opposed to public, bodies or their servants is contrary to Magna Carta and constitutes yet another step on the slippery slope to the Socialist State?

Mr. Callaghan

That is a very odd way of putting it, considering that the origin of this committee of inquiry lay in the Bill introduced by one of my hon. Friends aimed at extending the right of privacy of individuals. I remember that on the occasion of the debate the right hon. and learned Member gave vent to the sentiment that in his constituency the biggest invasion of privacy was regarded as aircraft noise.

Mr. Hogg

Would the right hon. Gentleman clear up one point in his original answer? When he said that the television authorities will co-operate with the committee did he mean to indicate that their activities will now be within the terms of reference of the committee?

Mr. Callaghan

I do not think that terms of reference were drawn so that those organisations are strictly within the scope of them. As I have reported to the House—if I did not I do it now—1 saw the chairmen of both authorities and both readily agreed that in connection with what I call their news-gathering and dissemination and publication activities they would expect to co-operate with the committee.

Mr. Kenneth Baker

Does the right hon. Gentleman recall that when I asked the Prime Minister about the work of the Younger Committee he said specifically that it would look into computers and their possible intrusion upon privacy? If Government service computers are exempted from the inquiry will not the work of the Younger Committee be a meaningless travesty?

Mr. Callaghan

None of that was said during the course of the Friday debate when the whole accent was on the invasion of privacy by private individuals and firms. It is well known and understood that the entry by Government officials into private premises or by gas and the electricity inspectors, or the interception of communications, is all governed by Statute or well laid-down practice. As to computers, the Prime Minister said in reply to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for York (Mr. Alexander W. Lyon) that he was considering in what way a code of conduct could be worked out.