HRC slams secret evidence plans

Parliament’s Human Rights Committee (HRC) has criticised the government’s Justice and Security Bill over plans to extend the use of secret evidence in civil court cases.


By Civil Service World

15 Nov 2012

The government says it is faced with claims for damages that it cannot defend because it does not want to release sensitive intelligence information in an open court.

But a new HRC report, published yesterday, calls for clarification of the material that would be covered by the bill. The report also argues that it’s “unsatisfactory” that the government is “unable to answer questions about the number and nature of civil damages claims pending in which sensitive national security information is centrally relevant.”

Dr Hywel Francis MP, the chairman of the committee, said: “We were disappointed that the government failed to prove to us a pressing need to extend the use of secret evidence into civil proceedings generally.”

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