§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any plans to seek to amend the Security Service Act 1989 to allow the Security Services Tribunal to reveal to the individuals concerned the information that was held on them prior to 18 December 1989.
§ Mr. WaddingtonNo.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for access to information the Security Services Tribunal has received since December 1989; in how many cases it has supplied the information requested; in how many cases it has refused to provide the information; and what were the reasons given.
69W
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe Security Service Tribunal is an independent body established by the Security Service Act 1989; I am not privy to its deliberations or to the number and nature of applications made to it. The tribunal is required to investigate complaints from any person who is aggrieved by anything which he believes that the Security Service has done in relation to him or to any property of his, if and so far as the complaint relates to anything done after the commencement of the Act, and to make a determination in accordance with schedule 1 to the Act. While paragraph 4(1) of schedule 2 to the Act enables the tribunal to gain access to such documents or information as it may require for the purpose of enabling it to carry out its functions under the Act, it is not empowered to seek on behalf of a complainant or any other person access to such documents or information. Indeed, paragraph 4(2) of schedule 2 to the Act requires the tribunal not to give any reasons for a determination notified by it, except in reports under paragraph 5(1)(b) of schedule 1.