I beg to move amendment 26, in clause 3, page 2, line 36, leave out from ‘matter’ to end of line 39, and insert ‘contains—

(a) sensitive information (as defined in Schedule 1, paragraph 4), or

(b) information which, in the interests of national security, should not be disclosed.’.

With this it will be convenient to discuss amendment 27, in clause 3, page 3, line 3, at end add—

‘(8) Where the ISC makes a report under subsection (7), the Prime Minister or Secretary of State must provide a response to the ISC within three months of receiving the report.’.

Amendment 26 seeks clarification on the Government’s redaction rights on reports produced by the ISC. At present, the Prime Minister can ask the Committee to redact any references that he feels might be prejudicial to the continued discharge of agency functions. The amendment would clarify that the Prime Minister’s right of redaction applies to sensitive information as defined in schedule 1, or information that, if disclosed, would compromise national security. As has been said, the ISC is unique among Committees, in that it is the only one in respect of which we parliamentarians would accept that the Prime Minister has a right to redact information.

We have already discussed the importance of those rights, and the Opposition accept that the right to redaction must continue, whatever form the Committee takes, now that we know it will be a Committee of Parliament. We are pleased that the clause requires the Prime Minister to consult with the ISC before redacting information. We accept that, in the past, redaction has always been in the interest of national security, and not for political convenience. We also accept that there is nothing in the Bill to suggest that the Government intend to give themselves the right to redact information on the basis on convenience.

That said, we think the Bill could be a bit clearer about the Prime Minister’s right to redact information. At present, the Prime Minister can ask for redaction if the release of information is

“prejudicial to the continued discharge of the functions” of any of the agencies. Almost any criticism of the agencies, or indeed the Government, could be seen as prejudicial to the discharge of the functions. Such a broad remit allows for the possible neutering of the ISC. We are worried that the current wording does not do enough to distinguish between the need to protect sensitive information, involving intelligence or techniques, and wider issues about the governance of operations. A whole hosts of issues not related to operations may be uncovered by the ISC about any of the security agencies, which may damage their standing and, by implication, may be prejudicial to the discharge of the functions. However, prima facie, that would not always be a reason to prevent the information going public.

Amendment 26 would clarify what could be redacted, limiting it two broad and important categories: first,

“sensitive information (as defined in Schedule 1, paragraph 4)”.

I am sure the whole Committee agrees that sensitive information must never be disclosed, and that even the possibility of such information being disclosed would inhibit the workings of the ISC and its all-important relationship with the agencies. The second category is

“information which, in the interests of national security, should not be disclosed.”

This is a broad category, and obviously open to interpretation, but the Opposition believe this wording is a stronger test than that currently in the Bill, because  it demands that the restrictions be based on the operation of the agencies in protecting the national interest, rather than their standing generally.

I turn to amendment 27:

“Where the ISC makes a report under subsection (7), the Prime Minister or Secretary of State must provide a response to the ISC within three months of receiving the report.”

At present the ISC can make a report directly to the Prime Minister when it is too sensitive to be made public, but there is no requirement that the Government respond to such reports. The amendment would require that the Prime Minister or Secretary of State respond to such reports.

The Opposition welcome the provision in clause 3(7), which explicitly gives the ISC the right to report directly to the Prime Minister when it is not appropriate to publish the report more widely. That is a sensible move, which recognises the Committee’s important work and the unique predicament in which it may find itself. The problem is that neither the public nor Parliament would ever know if such a report is made. Therefore, the Opposition tabled an amendment to ensure that the Government note and respond to such a report, just as they are obliged to do for reports made by Select Committees.

I am confident that the Government have no intention of ignoring the ISC and will always respond to any report, and that the Minister will accept the amendment. It would give the public and parliamentarians confidence in the ISC’s powers to produce reports. It would ensure that the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State are well aware of the issues. It would ensure that a response is forthcoming, and that there is dialogue. That is why the Opposition tabled amendment 27.

I shall take the amendments in reverse order, if I may. On amendment 27, the ISC strongly agrees with the hon. Lady’s attitude and reasoning. We are happy to report that the Prime Minister already invariably responds within that time frame when we make a report to him of the sort she described. However, we see absolutely no reason why, if the Government were willing to adopt the amendment, we should not support it, because her reasoning is extremely cogent.

On amendment 26, we have a bit of with problem paragraph (a). It refers to

“sensitive information (as defined in Schedule 1, paragraph 4)”.

However, that definition applies to highly sensitive information, such as the identity of agents in current operations. That is the sort of information that even the ISC may not be given in the first place. Therefore, to refer to that definition as the basis for redactions from ISC reports is probably inappropriate and excessively narrow.

Other than that we have no objection to register about the rest of the amendment. Likewise, we are satisfied with the existing wording of the Bill, as we believe it serves the purpose well. I hope that sheds a little light and provides encouragement for the hon. Lady, at least in respect of one of her amendments.

I think amendment 27 is fine, although I agree with the hon. Member for New Forest East that in reality, such a situation happens. There is no reason why it should not be put in the Bill.

It may interest the Committee to know that the ISC has to redact quite a bit from its reports. If hon. Members read the reports of the ISC they will see stars all over the place. The Committee might wonder about the process that led to those stars. There is usually lots of discussion and occasionally lots of rows. Inevitably, the Government and agency side can be rather nervous about putting some things in the public domain, even though to the eyes of members of the ISC they may not seem so sensitive. It is in the end inevitably a compromise, and rightly so, as clearly one has to protect agents, sources of information and all the rest of it.

I would not like the Committee to feel that the redactions are dealt with so quickly and easily that it does not matter. Sometimes weeks and weeks of ISC time is taken up with looking at what can and cannot be made public. It is important for the public to know that redactions are not undertaken frivolously but are regarded as extremely important. There are serious discussions about what should or should not be redacted. In the end, if the ISC fundamentally disagreed with the Prime Minister—who has the final word from the Government’s point of view—it would say so in the report. It would put in the redaction but say that it did not agree with it. That rarely, if ever, happens.

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for shedding light on the process of redacting ISC reports. He speaks with great authority, as does my hon. Friend the Member for New Forest East, on the approach that is taken and the way, pragmatically and practically, the issues are addressed. It is welcome that in this debate everyone has recognised the need for a mechanism to deal appropriately with potentially prejudicial information if it were disclosed more widely.

We want to ensure that the ISC is able to report candidly to the Prime Minister on sensitive matters. Therefore, inevitably the full contents of its reports cannot always be published, because of the nature of the material they contain. It follows that there has to be an ability to redact before reports can be laid before Parliament or published.

The test in the Bill, in the relevant provisions of clause 3, is modelled on that in the Intelligence Services Act 1994. We believe that it has worked well and is understood by the ISC and the Government, and it has allowed material to be excluded where it should be. It has also allowed the Government and the ISC to ensure that as much of the ISC’s reports as can be published is published. We believe that the test is not too restrictive, but it covers certain categories of information that would not be covered if we accepted the amendment of the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North.

The functions of the agencies are not solely exercised in the interests of national security. Each agency also has functions exercisable in the interests of the economic well-being of the United Kingdom and in support of the prevention or detection of serious crime. For those instances where including a matter in an ISC report to Parliament could cause prejudice to the general functions of the agencies, but not to their national security functions, the prejudice to functions ground gives the Prime Minister the power to require that matter to be excluded from the ISC’s report. My hon. Friend the Member for New  Forest East has already highlighted some of the limitations to using the definition under amendment 26, and the national security ground it proposes would not attach that power, unless the information in question fell within the definition of sensitive information. On that basis, I hope that the hon. Lady will withdraw amendment 26.

Clause 3(7) states:

“The ISC may make a report to the Prime Minister in relation to matters which would be excluded…if the report were made to Parliament.”

Amendment 27 would mean that, where the ISC makes a report under that provision, the Prime Minister or Secretary of State must provide a response to the ISC within three months. I can understand what the amendment intends for the relationship between the statutory committee of the ISC and how Select Committees operate, but it has been the practice, as we have heard in this debate, for the Prime Minister to respond to the ISC’s published annual and special reports by way of a Command Paper laid before Parliament. The Prime Minister responds to the private reports issued by the ISC directly to the ISC. To provide reassurance that such responses are made promptly in future, the Government intend that the memorandum of understanding should state that the Government aim to respond to the ISC’s published reports within 60 days.

That reflects the practice with Select Committee reports, as set out in the Osmotherly rules, with which we have become familiar in Committee. Those rules recognise that a longer period may be needed in more complex cases. They state:

“Only in exceptional circumstances should a response be deferred for more than six months after the Report’s publication.”

Amendment 27 would not require the Government’s response to the ISC’s report to the Prime Minister to be published, only that it be made to the ISC. I reassure the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North that it has been general practice for the Prime Minister to respond directly to the ISC on the ISC reports that are not laid before Parliament and are therefore not made public. The Government’s intention is that that shall continue to be the practice with the new ISC. Again, we are happy to include reference to that in the memorandum of understanding.

We do not have any objection in principle to ensuring that those timelines for the Government to respond to Select Committee reports are adhered to in relation to the ISC; we just think that it is more appropriate to give that reassurance to the Committee through the memorandum of understanding. I hope that, based on my assurances on the matter, the hon. Lady will feel minded to withdraw her amendment.

I start by saying how useful it is to have serving and past members of the ISC on this Committee to advise on what happens there, the great deal of work that is carried out with the reports, what is redacted and the arguments and discussions that take place. That is useful to hear.

I am minded to withdraw the amendment. This group of amendments was probing and has been useful in ascertaining how the Prime Minister responds to these private reports. I am pleased that there will be an opportunity for the Government to bring forward responses on the ISC’s public reports within the time frame that is  used for Select Committee reports. That is a positive move forward, and I look forward to the debate that we will have on the Floor of the House at some future point. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Question proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill.

I just have one small point before we move on. I do not want to detain the Committee, but clause 3(1) states:

“The ISC must make an annual report to Parliament on the discharge of its functions.”

It “must” make a report. I hope that the Minister will be able to go to his right hon. Friend the Leader of House and let him know that it is a statutory requirement on the Committee and that therefore applications to the Backbench Business Committee would not exactly the fulfil the remit that Parliament will give the Committee when the Bill finally becomes an Act.

The point has been made clearly and it has been recognised that my responsibilities do not extend to the allocation of parliamentary time. However, I appreciate the point, which has been made by several members of the Committee, about the parliamentary debate on the ISC’s annual report and will draw the Leader of the House’s attention to the comments.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause 3 accordingly ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 4 ordered to stand part of the Bill.