Room 5.45, Peel Building, 2 Marsham Street, London SWIP 4DF

Transcription

1 Room 5.45, Peel Building, 2 Marsham Street, London SWIP 4DF OSCTFOI@homeoffice.x.gsi.gov.uk Dr Kaihsu Tai By request e14332@whatdotheyknow.com 11 October 2010 Our Ref: Dear Dr Tai, Further to my of 17 September 2010, about your request for information in relation to control orders, please accept our sincere apologies for the further delay. I am pleased to say that I am now in a position to provide a substantive reply. We have as you know treated your request of 14 July 2010 as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ( the Act ). I am able to disclose some of the information that you have requested and this is set out in the enclosed Annex A. Where some of the information you have requested is already in the public domain, I have instead provided details of how to obtain it. Section 21(1) of the Act exempts the Home Office from having to provide you with this information, because it is already in the public domain. You asked for the text of the twelve control orders in force on 10 June When a person is made subject to a control order they are provided with a legal instrument notifying them that they are subject to the order and, separately, a list of obligations they are required to adhere to. The instrument will be identical in each case except for the subjects name and personal details, while the obligations will be different in each case and may change throughout the life of the control order. The Home Office is exempted from having to provide you with the full text of each of the instruments by Section 44(1) of the Act, which provides an absolute exemption (meaning that it is not subject to a public interest test when applied) for material whose disclosure is prohibited by or under an enactment, or would constitute or be punishable as a contempt of court. The twelve individuals subject to control orders on 10 June 2010 are subject to court-imposed anonymity orders, and disclosure of the full text of each of the instruments would identify the individuals and therefore

2 breach the anonymity orders. However I am able to provide you with a redacted example of an instrument, which will be the same for each controlled individual save for their personal details. This is attached at Annex A. The obligations a controlled individual is required to adhere to change throughout the life of the control order, and are tailored to the circumstances of the individual case at the time they are in place. After careful consideration we have decided that the full text of each set of obligations is exempt from disclosure under section 44(1) of the Act, referred to above, section 23(1) which provides an absolute exemption for material supplied by or relating to bodies dealing with national security matters, and section 24(1) which provides a qualified exemption for information relating to national security. Section 44(1) of the Act is applicable because to disclose the full text of each set of obligations would provide information that could identify the controlled individuals and therefore breach the anonymity orders in respect of those individuals. Section 23(1) of the Act also provides an absolute exemption, and is applicable here because some of the information you have requested was supplied by or relates to bodies dealing with national security matters. Section 24(1) of the Act is applicable where non-disclosure of the information is required for the purpose of safeguarding national security. This is a qualified exemption, meaning that a balancing exercise must be applied to consider whether the public interest lies in disclosing or withholding the information. Considerations which favour the disclosure of the requested information in this case include the promotion of openness and transparency in government, the benefits of greater public knowledge regarding matters of national security, and the particular public interest in further information being put into the public domain regarding the operation of the Prevention of Terrorism Act The considerations in favour of releasing information relevant to section 24(1) do however need to be balanced against those favouring non-disclosure. While we understand the benefits of public accountability, this is not outweighed in this case by the need to ensure that ongoing national security concerns are not prejudiced by the disclosure of some of the requested information. The information upon which decisions about control order obligations are taken is often derived from sensitive sources, relates to the ongoing operational management of individual control orders, and may relate to ongoing counter-terrorism operations. Disclosure of this information could undermine the operational management of individual control orders, or of ongoing operations, thereby damaging national security. There is very clearly a strong interest in maintaining national security. The Information Commissioner has made clear that the public interest factors protecting information relevant to national security are significant and can only be overridden in the most exceptional circumstances. I am satisfied that the there are no such exceptional circumstances in this case, and that the public interest favours the withholding of information covered by the exemption. Although the Home Office is not required to provide you with the full text of the twelve sets of obligations, some anonymised examples of typical obligations are included in reports issued by Lord Carlile, the Government s independent reviewer of

3 terrorism legislation. The most recent report can be accessed through the following link: Additionally, some of the court judgments that are in the public domain refer to control order obligations in some cases. Annex B lists the citations for all openly accessible judgments which determine specific matters in the cases of the twelve individuals subject to a control order at 10 June The judgments can be accessed by entering the citations into the following website: In keeping with the Act, we assume that all information can be released to the public unless it is exempt. In line with normal practice we are therefore releasing the information which you requested via the Home Office website. If you have any difficulties in accessing the information at the sources which I have indicated, please contact me again. If you are dissatisfied with this response you may request an independent internal review of our handling of your request by submitting a complaint within two months to the address below, quoting reference If you ask for an internal review, it would be helpful if you could say why you are dissatisfied with the response. Information Access Team Home Office Ground Floor, Seacole Building 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF FOIRequests@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk As part of any internal review the Department's handling of your information request will be reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with this response. If you remain dissatisfied after this internal review, you would have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the Act. Yours sincerely J Fanshaw

4 Annex A (Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005, section 2) CONTROL ORDER This Order is made on: Name of Controlled Person: Date of Birth: Nationality: Place of Residence: Under the powers conferred on the Secretary of State by sections 2 and 3(1)(a) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 (referred to below as the Act ), this Order has been made against you because: (a) I have reasonable grounds for suspecting that you are or you have been involved in terrorism-related activity; and (b) I consider it is necessary, for purposes connected with protecting members of the public from a risk of terrorism, to impose certain obligations upon you in order to prevent or restrict your further involvement in terrorism-related activity. The basis for this decision is: I believe that you are or have been involved in terrorism-related activities. The obligations imposed on you under section 1(3) of the Act are set out in the Schedule to the Order see attached. You are required to meet the obligations set out in the Schedule to the Order. By virtue of section 9(1) and (4) of the Act if, without reasonable excuse, you contravene any of these obligations, you shall be liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment or to a fine or to both. If while you are subject to this Order, you consider there has been a change of circumstances affecting it, you may apply under section 7(1) of the Act, for a revocation of the Order or for the modification of an obligation imposed by the Order. This Order is effective until the end of 12 months). (Order made for Secretary of State

5 ANNEX B Individuals subject to a control order at 10 June 2010 with court judgments* Initials Judgments AM 2008 EWCA civ EWHC EWHC 3390 AY 2010 EWHC 1860 BB 2009 EWHC 2927 BC 2009 EWHC 2927 BG 2009 EWHC 2938 BH 2009 EWHC 2938 BM 2009 EWHC EWHC 264 BX 2010 EWCA civ EWHC 990 GG 2006 EWHC EWCA civ UKHL EWHC EWCA civ 786 * Further judgments handed down but not shown here may include: Oral judgments; Closed judgments (i.e. those involving sensitive material and therefore not made public); and Judgments with reporting restrictions (for example where disclosure of information in the judgment may prejudice other proceedings).