§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will amend the proposals in paragraph 47 of his White Paper on the reform of section 2 of the Official Secrets Act (Cm 408) so that designation, as proposed therein, shall relate to the nature of the material disclosed rather than the position of the individual civil servant.
§ Mr. John PattenAs the White Paper explains, the Government believe that any unauthorised disclosure by a member of the security and intelligence services is harmful, and should be caught by the criminal law. The same consideration applies to disclosures by certain officials who work closely with those services.