Clause 2
Counter-Terrorism Bill
11:00 am
Dominic Grieve (Shadow Attorney General, Law Officers; Beaconsfield, Conservative)
I am grateful to the Minister. I do not disagree with anything that he said. However, I wish to raise a more general point, which probably does not require to be touched on in this Bill but which I think has some bearing on the matter. The Minister has, I understand, confined obstruction to physical obstruction or attempting, I suppose, to chuck a document in the dustbin. One of the issues that we have had to consider on a number of occasions—as he is aware—is encryption keys and encrypted material. Some of the material that we are concerned with here is, or could be, encrypted material that is downloaded from a computer. I would be grateful if the Minister could tell the Committee how the law stands on that. My recollection from past debates on the subject is that there has been anxiety as to whether the penalties are stiff enough in respect of non-co-operation of that kind. That is why I tabled some amendments to the clause, although I am aware that they are totally deficient because they would require Crown court and not magistrates court procedure. While the Minister has reassured me completely regarding what I would call the old-fashioned offence of obstruction—as I think it is generally understood—I continue to be anxious that we have a proper regime in place, which provides a sufficient deterrent for somebody thinking that an easy way out is not to provide encryption keys when encrypted material has been seized.