§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Prime Minister whether there has been any change in the positive vetting procedures carried out with respect to employees at the Government communications headquarters, Cheltenham.
§ The Prime MinisterAs a result of its investigations into the case of Geoffrey Arthur Prime, the Security Commission recommended, and the Government subsequently accepted, a number of improvements to the positive vetting procedures used by GCHQ and other intelligence and security agencies. Changes have been made to implement these recommendations.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Prime Minister why staff at the Government communications headquarters, Cheltenham, have been questioned about their attitudes to herself as part of the positive vetting procedure.
§ The Prime MinisterPositive vetting investigators have discretion, in the course of interviews with subjects under investigation, to discuss and to put questions on topics of current political interest with a view to ascertaining whether the subject has, or may be likely to have, extreme views or associations of a kind which might suggest that he or she would not be suitable for employment in a post which required regular and constant 387W access to highly classified information, the improper disclosure of which could be damaging to the security of the state. Such questions have no other purpose than that, and the expression of views which may not coincide with those of the Government of the day has no bearing on or relevance to an investigation unless it appears to the investigator to go beyond the normal expression of dissent in a parliamentary democracy.
All that being said, I do not think it necessary or appropriate for investigators to put questions of the kind suggested by the hon. Member. If such questions have been put, it is without my knowledge or consent, and I have given instructions for my views to be made clear to the investigators concerned.