GCHQ

Sarah Wollaston Excerpts

Monday 10th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

Well, yes, it does mean those things. It means that the legal framework is properly applied and what the agencies do has to be targeted, necessary, proportionate and authorised. It also has to be for the purposes set out in the relevant Acts of Parliament in the interests of national security, the country’s economic well-being or the prevention of serious crime and the protection of the country from it. These are the purposes of our intelligence agencies—and they stick to them.

[Dr Sarah Wollaston (Totnes) (Con)]

Is the Foreign Secretary absolutely confident that, if a member of staff working at GCHQ had real concerns about wrongdoing among colleagues, the channels exist for that member of staff to have their concerns heard without needing to go to the media?

[Mr Hague]

Yes, absolutely. In such a case, concerns can be raised through the management structure. There is also the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, to which members of the intelligence services can take complaints or concerns without having to do so in public.