Amendment 119

Part of National Security Bill - Committee (5th Day) (Continued) – in the House of Lords am 9:30 pm ar 18 Ionawr 2023.

Danfonwch hysbysiad imi am ddadleuon fel hyn

Photo of Lord Evans of Weardale Lord Evans of Weardale Crossbench 9:30, 18 Ionawr 2023

My Lords, I must confess to being rather puzzled by some of the detail in Amendment 120 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer. When I got to proposed new subsection (4), I assumed that the office was intended to be a regulatory body ensuring that the whistleblowing arrangements with regard to national security were appropriate; however, it subsequently became clear in proposed new paragraph (b) that it was intended to be the whistle- blowing channel. Those seems like slightly different roles to me.

I am also puzzled as to why there is a proposal here for a whistleblowing channel that is in fact very narrow. It relates only

“to the commission of an offence under this Act”.

I would have thought that, if there was a need for a whistleblowing channel—