§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate how many United Kingdom citizens have signed the Official Secrets Act 1911 since 1967. [18694]
§ Mr. MichaelCertain provisions of the Official Secrets Act 1911 were repealed by the Official Secrets Act 1989, which came into effect on 1 March 1990. Prior to that date, it had been the practice to require Government Ministers and members of the Civil Service and of the armed forces to sign a declaration certifying that they were aware of the provisions of the legislation. Information about the numbers of those who signed such declarations is not available centrally.
Current practice is to draw the relevant provisions of the Official Secrets Acts to the attention of those most likely to have access to the sorts of information covered by them.
299WThe provisions of the Official Secrets Acts apply, and have always applied, irrespective of whether any formal declaration has been signed.