Clause 20 - Restriction on disclosure of information
Police (Northern Ireland) Bill [Lords]
3:15 pm
Ms Jane Kennedy (Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office; Liverpool, Wavertree, Labour)
Members of the Committee have raised legitimate concerns about the role that staff of members of the board might play in the event of sensitive information being shared with the board, either through the small committee or by any other means. Personal staff working for board members are not staff of the board. The latter are appointed under paragraph 13 of schedule 1 to the 2000 Act, and it is only board staff that may have access to the sensitive information, and therefore only they who are covered by the offence. They will provide the supporting role to the small committee that we discussed, and will service it in an administrative capacity. I hesitate to mention this, but it may interest the Committee to know that some board members have asked whether, given their heavy workload, they should have dedicated research staff to assist them, in a party capacity, with their work on the Policing Board. That is one consideration that we had in mind.
It was preferable for staff conducting such research to be employed by the board, much in the way that Library staff may conduct research on behalf of a Member of the House of Commons, but are employed by Parliament. Although that is not entirely relevant to the clause, it may be useful for hon. Members to know our view, which was informed by considerations of that nature.