HC Deb 14 January 2004 vol 416 cc759-60W
Dr. Vis

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans the Prison Service has to introduce a public interest immunity policy. [145090]

Paul Goggins

There are no plans to introduce a policy specific to the Prison Service. Public interest immunity is a rule of evidence and its application is no different for Prison Service business than for any other business of Government.

The Secretary of State will continue to seek public interest immunity where he considers that material which is relevant in civil or criminal proceedings should not be disclosed because the harm to the public interest that would arise from its disclosure outweighs the harm to the interests of justice that might arise from not disclosing it in those proceedings. It is always for the court to decide whether the Secretary of State's claim to public interest immunity should be upheld.