§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement regarding the confidentiality of citizens who allow the police to use their houses for surveillance.
§ Mr. MacleanI can assure the hon. Member that the police go to great lengths to safeguard the identities of those who allow them to use their houses for surveillance.
246WThe Government are determined to do whatever they can to ensure that people who assist the police should not face intimidation. Courts already have discretion to allow witnesses to conceal their addresses from the public and the defendant. A new offence of witness intimidation, contained in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill, will make it easier to prosecute anyone who seeks to intimidate or take revenge on witnesses, jurors or any person assisting the police.