Contributions
522 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDNational Security Bill (First sitting)Q Thank you both very much for your time. To echo the Minister’s sentiments, we are grateful for your service to the country as well. Sir Alex, the measures in the Bill,…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (First sitting)Q Would it not be fair to say that no cases have yet been brought against anybody acting in that way on behalf of the security services, and would that not be because the…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (First sitting)Q The Bill creates a new offence of preparatory conduct in part 1. To what extent do you think that was an omission in previous legislation? I have heard from former members of…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (First sitting)Q Sir David, following up on your points about the digitisation of information, Microsoft told me that a great deal of online state activity is around theft and access to data…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (First sitting)Q I will pick up on a thread from the previous question, if that is okay. We talked about some of the physical engagement around think-tanks, universities and academia. Microsoft…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (First sitting)Q Further to that, we intend to table an amendment that would put a requirement on the Government to commission an independent annual review of the prevalence of disinformation…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (First sitting)Q Thank you, Mr McGuinness, for your service and for keeping us and our communities safe. The Bill creates a new offence of sabotage. Is that something that you felt had been…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (First sitting)Q That is incredibly helpful and interesting; thank you very much for that insight. Can I take you from that to a slightly different issue? You heard the previous conversation…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (Second sitting)Q Carl Miller, you painted quite a distressing picture of the complexity and volume of the information that is being pushed online by foreign states. If it is not so much about…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (Second sitting)Q Do you think social media companies are doing enough to identify the overseas networks that are pushing such content in the UK? Carl Miller: I have spent 10 years saying the…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (Second sitting)Q Sam Armstrong, on China specifically, what types of activities should we be most concerned about here in the UK? Sam Armstrong: The problem is that it is so broad, in that there…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (Second sitting)Q Have there been instances when you have referred something for further investigation to the enforcement agencies? Louise Edwards: That is how the process would work. It is very…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (Second sitting)Q May I probe a little further to get a better understanding of the role of the commission sitting alongside enforcement agencies in this area? If you were to be made aware of a…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (Second sitting)Yes, foreign interference. Louise Edwards: Okay. If we were made aware of that, it is likely that it would be from the intelligence community or the police, because they are…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (Second sitting)Q Can you give us any sense of the volume of cases you are looking at in this space? As we anticipate this problem increasing, would it be to the commission’s advantage to have…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (Second sitting)Thank you. There is an awful lot for us to look at closely there.07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (Second sitting)Q Further to some of the points that you were making, I think it was the Russia report that identified that, as this hybrid activity becomes an emerging threat, we could be doing…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (Second sitting)Q Given some of the conversations we have had with the prior witness panels, are there other examples of best practice from around the world in respect of the influence of foreign…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (Second sitting)Q Thank you for your time today. Can I take you through some different parts of the Bill for your assessment? Perhaps Dr Nicholas Hoggard could answer, as I have had a good look…07 Jul 2022HANSARDNational Security Bill (Second sitting)Q So you do not think the ability to do so in the interests of the UK, as well as for its safety, gives some quite sweeping powers, which would be open to challenge? Dr Nicholas…07 Jul 2022