§ Mr. Gerald HowarthTo ask the Prime Minister how many public interest immunity certificates have been issued by Ministers or their officials since 1 May 1997; and if he will list the occasions on which such certificates have been issued. [85359]
§ The Prime MinisterMy right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General's statement on 11 July 1997,Official Report, columns 616–17, made clear that, in accordance with the approach adopted by the previous Government, public interest immunity will not be asserted by the Government unless the relevant Minister believes 19W that disclosure of a document or piece of information will cause real damage to the public interest and that this test would be applied rigorously.
Where public interest immunity applies, the Government's policy is to make voluntary disclosure if it considers that the interest of justice outweighs the public interest in withholding the document or information in question. In all cases a claim for public interest immunity is subject to the power of the court or other tribunal to order disclosure.
Prior to 1 May 1997, no centrally maintained record for Government public interest immunity certificates was kept. However, on the best information available from a trawl of the main relevant Departments, I can disclose that PII certificates have been issued and other parties notified on the following number of occasions:
Year Home Departments1 NIO FCO 1995 17 8 1 1996 10 0 2 1997 15 5 1 1998 14 220 1 1999 (to date) 4 8 1 1 Peior to 1997, DTI, MOD and HO only are included; after 1997, all relevant Departments 2 13 of the 20 cases in 1998 relate to a single occasion involving the movement of 13 prisoners with HMP Belfast