PUBLIC INDECENCY (PETITION) (Hansard, 9 May 1973)

§ The Prime Minister

pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 8th May 1973; Vol. 856, c. 81], circulated the following letter:

10 Downing Street

Whitehall

8 May 1973

Dear Mrs. Whitehouse

Thank you for the letter of 17 April signed by you and others, which you handed in when you and your deputation presented at 10 Downing Street the Nationwide Petition for Public Decency, sponsored by the National Viewers and Listeners' Association with the support of the Nationwide Festival of Light.

My colleagues and I are well aware of the widespread concern about the assault on the traditional standards of decency, and the growing availability of indecent and pornographic material. Representatives of the sponsors of the petition have already had an opportunity of discussing some aspects of it with the Secretary of State for Education and Science and the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications.

There are as you know special safeguards for broadcasting which the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications has already mentioned to you. We agree that there should be the highest possible standards in broadcasting and this is one reason why the Minister is discussing with the Chairman of the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Independent Broadcasting Authority ways in which viewers' interests could best be represented.

We believe that in some other respects the existing law is inadequate and requires some strengthening as soon as the opportunity offers. This is, however, a difficult area for Government action, bearing in mind the need 128W to balance legitimate freedom of expression with the protection of the public from unwarrantable assaults on their own sense of reticence and decency. In referring to the "obscenity" law, your resolution appears to be directed at all the provisions which touch upon the control of pornography and indecent displays and it is in this wider sense that I have interpreted it.

The Obscene Publications Acts, as such, make it an offence to publish, or to possess for publication for gain, material which has a tendency to deprave and corrupt those who are likely to read, see or hear it.

Under these provisions 211 persons were proceeded against in 1971, of whom 196 were found guilty; and in 1972, in London alone, over 1 million items were seized by the police and destroyed. The Government is not convinced that amendment of these Acts, which apply to a wide range of situations in which material may be published, and often to purely private transactions, would be useful in meeting the real causes of public concern.

Other provisions deal with the public display of offensive material, and for this the test is the wider one of simple indecency. The effect of these is to prohibit the public exhibition of indecent material in a manner that makes it visible to passers-by. These latter provisions are antiquated and, in the Government's view, considerably less effective now than they might be. The Home Secretary has already stated publicly that he takes very seriously the question of the public display of offensive material in the street, on bookstalls, outside cinemas and in similar places. He is currently considering how to strengthen and rationalise the law in this area and to bring it up to date to suit modern conditions. I hope that this new legislation may be introduced as soon as the Parliamentary timetable permits.

You will have an opportunity to discuss the general issues at your forthcoming meeting with the Home Secretary. This is a complex subject and I believe that the issues can more easily be explored through discussion than correspondence. The support you have received amply demonstrates the concern which the Government knows is shared by many about this subject, and we shall continue to give close attention to it.

Yours sincerely,

EDWARD HEATH.

Mrs. M. Whitehouse.