Clause 42 - Offence of disclosure
Crime (International Co-operation) Bill [Lords]
Public Bill Committees, 17 June 2003, 10:30 am
Mr Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath, Conservative)
I understand the hon. Gentleman's point about the Bill remaining unamended. No doubt, the decision on whether to prosecute might be influenced if it were shown that there had been no damage, but there would be no guarantee that there would not be a prosecution, even if no damage were caused. There would be nothing in the Bill to say, ''Do not prosecute if no damage was caused''.
The hon. Gentleman and I take a different view on the matter. He is right to say that if there were to be a prosecution and the defence was saying, ''Well, there was no consequence from this—there was no damage,'' that would be a point put in mitigation. We stick to our approach, however, which is that it would be far better if it were clear in the Bill that if no damage is caused and there are no adverse
consequences to the mistaken information supplied, there should be no question of prosecution. If that were in the Bill, institutions and their staff, who worry about such things, would be better protected.