Further written evidence to be reported to the House
Counter-Terrorism Bill
9:00 am
Dominic Grieve (Shadow Attorney General, Law Officers; Beaconsfield, Conservative)
On a point of order, Mr. Bercow. You will recall that the Committee debated earlier the apparent errors made by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and Mr. Quick, the assistant commissioner, when they gave evidence, and the fact that the errors were communicated apparently to the press but not to the Committee, except by a phone call to the Clerk, which was regarded as insufficient. I see that the Committee has now received a memorandum from the commissioner and assistant commissioner, which members of the Committee should have in front of them. In four lines it purports to deal with what appears to be a serious error in the evidence, but does not contain an apology or an explanation as to why the error was made. It simply claims to clarify that 15 plots have been foiled or have failed since 2000, and not 2005. It is astonishingly discourteous for a supplementary memorandum in those terms to be supplied to a Public Bill Committee.