HC Deb 03 November 1998 vol 318 cc495-6W
Mr. Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to ensure that access to personal files held by MI5 is restricted to those with a clear need to see them, and that there are detailed audit trails to identify which officers or sections have had access to that information, and the reasons for that access. [57565]

Mr. Straw

The Security Service already has in place procedures to ensure that access to its personal files is restricted to those with a need to see them, and audit arrangements which track and record internal access to any file.

Mr. Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy to require an independent assessment to be carried out before any decision by MI5 to destroy files is implemented. [57567]

Mr. Straw

The case for independent scrutiny of the destruction of Security Service files is under consideration including the circumstances where this might be appropriate and the form such scrutiny might take.

Mr. Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to ensure that files held by MI5 that are marked for destruction or might reasonably be thought to be so classified had they been assessed, are not used for vetting purposes. [57566]

Mr. Straw

Those Security Service files that have been reviewed and marked for destruction have been withdrawn from the Service's central file index and are not available to desk officers for any purpose. Those old and closed files, which have yet to be reviewed for destruction, remain centrally recorded but the Security Service may neither carry out inquiries into the subject nor add substantive information to the file. The current policy is that the Service will not apply information from its records in response to vetting inquiries merely on account of the subject's membership of organisations once considered to be subversive.

Mr. Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many individuals information is held by MI5 by means of computerised indices. [57564]

Mr. Straw

In my statement to the House on 29 July 1998,Official Report, columns 251–54, I made public for the first time information concerning the number of files held by the Security Service, including the number of files on which inquiries may be made. I do not propose to disclose further details about the Service's record management systems.

Mr. Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what rights he proposes to introduce for individuals upon whom files are held by MI5. [57568]

Mr. Straw

In its latest Report, the Intelligence and Security Committee indicated that it intends to consider the question of whether individuals should have rights in connection with any Security Service files held on them. I shall await the Committee's findings before deciding whether to make any changes to the existing arrangements.