§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he plans to introduce legislation to outlaw electronic surveillance; and if he will make unlawful surveillance punishable by a prison sentence of at least one year's length.
(2) if, in view of the fact that at least 10 firms regularly advertise cheap bugging devices in such fora as Exchange and Mart he will take steps to curb such sales; and when he proposes to implement the relevant recommendations of the Younger committee report into privacy.
§ Mr. Raison:The Government have no plans to prohibit the sale of electronic eavesdropping devices as such, or to make it an offence to use optical or electronic surveillance devices. Many surveillance devices are miniature radio transmitters, the unlicensed use of which is an offence under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949.