Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will establish without delay a Judge-led inquiry into any (a) direct and (b) indirect UK involvement in the use of torture or rendition following the events of 11 September 2001; and if he will make a statement.

In July 2010, the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) asked Sir Peter Gibson to lead an inquiry into whether Britain was implicated in the improper treatment, or rendition, of detainees held by other countries in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001. In January 2012, the then Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, my right hon. Friend the member for Rushcliffe (Mr Kenneth Clarke) announced the Government’s decision to bring the Detainee Inquiry to a conclusion following the launch of a new police investigation into related matters. In doing so, he said that Sir Peter Gibson had agreed to provide the Government with a report on its preparatory work. In December 2013 the Detainee Inquiry published its report setting out a series of questions which the Government asked the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament to consider. This Committee will report to Parliament and to the Government on the completion of its work.

I do not want to pre-judge its findings. In light of the Committee’s report and the outcome of the related police investigations, the Government will be able to take a final view on whether another judge-led inquiry is necessary to add any further information of value to future policy-making in this area and the national interest.