§ Mr. MaplesTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list with dates and 149W details all public interest immunity certificates he has issued since 1 May 1997. [92733]
§ Mr. Tony Lloyd[holding answer 23 July 1999]: Details of the two public interest immunity certificates signed by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs since 1 May 1997 are as follows:
Date Case 30 October 1998 R v. Mullen 10 April 1999 Paul and John Grecian v. HM Customs and Excise In both cases, disclosure of the documents referred to in the certificates would have caused real harm to the work of the security and intelligence agencies.
In addition, one certificate was signed by another Foreign Office Minister, Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, on 26 September 1997 in the case of Rowland and Norgen v. Bock and Gouden Akker Properties. Disclosure of the document referred to in the certificate would have caused serious harm to the UK's foreign relations and could have revealed the identity of an informant.