Clause 78
Coroners and Justice Bill
2:45 pm

Frank Cook (Stockton North, Labour)

With this it will be convenient to take Government new clause 30—Anonymity in investigations: public interest immunity.

Maria Eagle (Parliamentary Secretary, Government Equalities Office; Liverpool, Garston, Labour)

The new clause mirrors clause 78 for witness anonymity orders and has been drafted for reasons of consistency and clarity. Clause 78 directly re-enacts section 13 of the 2008 Act. To avoid any possible confusion between the two different areas of law, the provisions make it clear that the anonymity legislation does not affect the common law rules under public interest immunity. That is not to say that a witness anonymity order may not have effect to qualify the duty to disclose material under the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996, which we discussed earlier. A witness anonymity order that includes provision requiring non-disclosure of certain identifying information will, of course, do that, as we discussed.

Edward Garnier (Shadow Minister, Justice; Harborough, Conservative)

The Minister was wise to ask me to resume my seat, so that she could make her case. I had misread new clause 30. I had thought that it was drafted in identical terms to clause 78, but that is not quite so.