§ Mr. Gerald Howarthasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many prosecutions relating to the unauthorised disclosure of classified information from his Department have been brought in each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. HeseltineThere have been two prosecutions relating to the unauthorised disclosure of classified information from the Ministry of Defence during the last 10 years. In 1978 a former corporal in the Intelligence Corps knowingly passed on information relating to military and defence establishments to two journalists, who were deliberately seeking to obtain secret 495W information. The charges brought under Section 1 of the Official Secrets Act of 1911 were withdrawn during the trial, but all three were convicted under Section 2 of that Act. In 1984 a Senior Aircraftman was charged with offences under Section 1 of the Official Secrets Act, but was found not guilty. There are two cases currently awaiting trial.
Other cases have been brought under the Official Secrets Act during this period, but these did not entail the actual unauthorised disclosure of classified information.
§ Mr. Gerald Howarthasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he is satisfied with the arrangements within his Department for protecting the confidentiality of classified information.
§ Mr. HeseltineThere is continual effort to maintain and improve our security arrangements. Equally our security must be assumed to be under continual threat. Constant vigilance is needed to ensure that security instructions are fully complied with. As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister told the House on 29 March 1984 at cols.235–36 the Government accepted the Security Commission's recommendations for improving security procedures following the Aldridge case: consideration of the best method of implementing these recommendations is in hand.