§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce proposals for legislation to allow an independent person, with the relevant security clearance, to access on behalf of a citizen the personal information held by the security service in order to assess whether the information is relevant for the purpose of national security and, if appropriate, to make representations to him; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerI refer the hon. Member to the Security Service Act 1989 which established the Security Service Tribunal. The tribunal investigates complaints about the service from members of the public. If the tribunal finds that a complainant has been the subject of inquiries by the service it is required to investigate whether the service had reasonable grounds for instituting or continuing inquiries about the complainant in the discharge of its functions. If the tribunal determines that the service did not have reasonable grounds for instituting or continuing inquiries, it is required to notify the346W complainant that it has made a determination in his favour, and to make a report of its findings to the Secretary of State and to the Security Service Commissioner. In such circumstances, the tribunal may also order inquiries by the service about the complainant to be ended and any records relating to such inquiries to be destroyed, and they may direct the Secretary of State to pay compensation to the complainant.