§ Dr. Julian LewisTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will give individuals who obtain access to their Security Service files the right to challenge perceived inaccuracies in those files; [28032]
(2) whether an individual requesting access to his Security Service file will (a) be granted access to all the contents of his or her file other than any items which would involve harm to national security or (b) be denied access to his or her entire file if some, but not all, of its contents would involve harm to national security if disclosed; [28034]
(3) what estimate he has made of the average time which will be taken to furnish an individual who has requested access to their Security Service file with the contents of that file; [28037]
(4) whether it will be considered to be in the national interest for the Security Service to be obliged to disclose discontinued files on Government Ministers to those individuals while they remain in their posts; [28029]
(5) whether discontinued Security Service files on the (a) Deputy Prime Minister, (b) Foreign Secretary and (c) right hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr. Mandelson) will be released if requested by those individuals; [28028]
(6) what advice he has been given about the implications of the Human Rights Act 1998 on access by individuals to files on them compiled by the Security Service; [28033]
(7) if it is his intention to impose charges on individuals who request access to their Security Service files; [28036]
(8) what overall assessment he has made of the effect on the security of the Security Service of enabling individuals to have access to their Security Service files; [28038]
(9) what personnel will be allocated by the Security Service for the processing of applications by individuals to see their Security Service files; [28035]
(10) if he will make a statement on access by individuals to files about their activities compiled by the Security Service, with special reference to his placing a certificate relating to this in the Library; and what criteria will be applied in determining whether the release of a Security Service file on an individual to that individual will harm national security. [28027]
§ Mr. BlunkettThe Security Service complies with the Data Protection Act 1998.
Section 7 of the Act creates a general entitlement for an individual to ask and be told whether personal data on them is being processed and if it is, be told certain information about that data. However, the Act also provides at section 28 an exemption on grounds of safeguarding national security that applies, among other provisions, to section 7.
840WAs I stated in the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore) on 19 December 2001, Official Report, column 492W, I have signed, at the request of the Security Service, a new certificate describing in general terms the personal data that the Security Service may process that requires exemption under the Act under section 28. A copy of that certificate, with the public reasons for my signing it, was placed in the Library. I have placed a condition on the Security Service to report to me on their use of the certificate.
Anyone can make a subject access application to the Security Service, including Government Ministers. The Security Service will seek to respond as quickly as reasonably possible.
Without anticipating the outcome of any such application, one of the Security Service's statutory functions is protecting national security. In perhaps the great majority of cases the service will need to rely on the section 28 exemption to avoid damage to national security. That will include use of the long established "neither confirm nor deny" approach—an approach acknowledged by the national security panel of the Information Tribunal. In response to a subject access application, the service will, consistent with section 28, consider whether the neither confirm nor deny approach needs to be followed and, if not, to what extent the withholding of all or some information is still necessary to safeguard national security.
The Director General of the Security Service has informed me that he is keeping under review the resources required. In line with the Act, the service charges a £10 subject access application-handling fee.
The Data Protection Act 1998 is compatible with the Human Rights Act 1998.