Criminal Justice Committee [Draft]

Meeting date: Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Official Report 802KB pdf

Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill

Our next item of business is consideration of a legislative consent memorandum for the Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill, which is UK Parliament legislation. I refer members to paper 2. I invite any views or comments from members, including on whether the committee wishes to recommend to the Parliament that consent be given to the relevant provisions in the bill.

I have a quick observation. I am by no means an expert on the entirety of what is proposed, but I suggest that we support it. One element that caught my eye is the creation of a new measure that requires the Investigatory Powers Commissioner to notify those who have been subject to inappropriate surveillance or suchlike by the authorities. That is pertinent given recent cases, which I cannot go into detail about, in which journalists and their alleged or suspected sources were subject to inappropriate techniques by Police Scotland relating to a serious crime. If the bill helps to tighten that up and put an onus on authorities to inform those who have been subject to such wrongful methods, that can only be a good thing.

Thank you—that is a helpful point.

As there are no other points, are members content to recommend to the Parliament that consent be given to the relevant provisions in the bill?

Members indicated agreement.

That concludes the public part of today’s meeting. We will now move into private session.