§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list all those in his Department who have authority to issue public interest immunity certificates; how many such certificates have been issued in each of the last five years; and what were the main reasons for them. [1427]
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeA claim to public interest immunity relating to departmental records or information is normally made by the appropriate Minister, or in the case of the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise by the chairman. No PII certificates have been signed by Treasury Ministers during the last five years.
In order to protect in proceedings confidential information provided by taxpayers about their personal affairs or the identity of informers, the chairman of the Inland Revenue may swear affidavits, rather than sign PII certificates, claiming on public interest grounds that disclosure of documents should not be made. As far as can be ascertained, one such affidavit has been signed in the last five years—in 1991—and was for use in civil proceedings.
The chairman of Customs and Excise also claims PII by affidavit and not by certificate. There have been three affidavits in the last five years—one each in 1992, 1994 and 1995. Each was used in civil proceedings in order to protect informant and intelligence information.