§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make it his policy to seek to amend the Official Secrets Act 1989 by the insertion of a public interest defence; [10608]
(2) what plans he has to repeal the Official Secrets Act 1989. [10612]
§ Mr. Michael[holding answers 25 July 1997]: The Official Secrets Act 1989 protects only a very narrow range of information and only if the disclosure is likely to cause damage. We have no plans to repeal the Act since this would risk allowing disclosures which might harm the national interest.
With regard to a public interest defence, the 1989 Act is not concerned with embarrassing disclosures; it is concerned with disclosures that give rise to specific kinds of harm to the national interest. It is difficult to envisage how a public interest defence could be appropriately deployed in this narrow and specific set of circumstances. A person who knowingly harms the public interest so seriously that a prosecution under the Act would be justified should be criminally liable and it is difficult to see circumstances in which that harm could be disregarded because of the motives of the individual. If a prosecution is brought, the court is able to consider all the circumstances of the case in imposing an appropriate sentence and motivation would be a factor to be included in that consideration.
There is no question of a Crown servant needing to risk criminal penalties to bring suspicions of wrongdoing to the attention of higher authorities. Under the civil service code, introduced with effect from 1 January 1996, civil servants are required to report wrongdoing to the appropriate authorities. Where a civil servant has reported such a matter and believes that the response does not 7W represent a reasonable response to the grounds of his or her concern, he or she may report the matter in writing to the civil service commissioners.