§ 9. Mr. OttawayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he intends to combat the trade in computer-generated pornography; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacleanWe are taking a number of steps in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill to ensure that the legislation to control pornography can keep pace with changing technology.
§ Mr. OttawayDoes my hon. Friend recognise the need to stay one jump ahead of criminals who seek to exploit technology for their own advantage? Will he confirm that the proposed measures will take into account the latest developments in computing?
§ Mr. MacleanYes. I believe that the measures that we have taken in the Bill, many of them within days or weeks of the Select Committee on Home Affairs reporting, will deal with all aspects of computer pornography. We are still turning our attention to two issues: international transmission from foreign countries, and advertising. Apart from those two, however—and they are not germane to dealing with the main problems of computer technology —the measures in the Bill will deal with all aspects of computer pornography in whatever shape or form that vile trade takes now or in the foreseeable future.
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienIf the Minister is so anxious to quote the chairman of the Police Federation, why did he not accept the federation's proposed amendments to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill to strengthen the laws on computer pornography? Does he accept that the comments made by the chairman of the Police Federation yesterday about the Home Secretary ended with a reference to what the chairman perceived as the greatest threat to policing in a generation in the current inquiry into the core functions of policing, which the general secretary of the federation said could lead to a reduction in the number of police officers from 126,000 to 80,000 by the end of the decade if the Government get their way?
§ Mr. MacleanThe hon. Gentleman is trying to make bricks without straw, but I congratulate him on his courage in being the only Opposition Member to stand up and quote the police today. The Opposition have been quoting the police for the past 12 months, but since the chairman of the Police Federation said yesterday that the current Home Secretary is more in tune with the police than any Home Secretary in the past 30 years, I suspect that the Opposition will be dropping the idea of such quotations like hot bricks.
I am confident that, before the Bill leaves the Palace of Westminster, all the concerns about computer pornography will be addressed and we shall have a comprehensive measure to deal with that vile trade.