§ Lord Graham of Edmontonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the arrangements for hearing appeals from those who need to have access to protectively marked government assets and have been refused security clearance or have had that clearance withdrawn.
§ The Lord Privy Seal (Lord Richard)An independent Security Vetting Appeals Panel, chaired by Sir Anthony May, will be established on 1 July to hear appeals against refusals or withdrawal of clearance at Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV) levels and to advise the head of the organisation concerned. The panel will be available to all those, other than recruits, in the public and private sectors and in the Armed Forces who are subject to security vetting at these levels, have exhausted existing appeals mechanisms within their own organisations and remain dissatisfied with the result. Separate arrangements are available to staff of the security and intelligence agencies. The establishment of the panel therefore brings to an end the role of the Three Advisers, who, since 1948, have been available to consider cases where security clearance was refused or withdrawn on the grounds of subversion.