ABSTRACT
The Justice and Security Act 2013 provides for oversight of the UK Security Services, the Secret Intelligence Service, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and other activities relating to intelligence or security matters. The bill, which drew a great deal of criticism from the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee, was introduced by Lord Wallace of Tankerness (Liberal Democrat) in the House of Lords (HL) in 2012, supported by the then Justice Minister, Kenneth Clarke. The 2013 Act provides for ‘Closed Material Procedures’ (CMPs) – commonly referred to as ‘secret courts’ – and limits public access in certain high-profi le cases where national security is at stake. These CMPs prevent the making of court disclosure orders in civil proceedings of ‘sensitive’ information. This means that judges do not have complete control over such cases and defendants are not permitted to see all the relevant evidence against them (e.g. in alleged acts of terrorism). Special Advocates (SAs) are appointed by the Government to act in the interests of those whose
appeals are subject to CMP. The SAs are unable to disclose material to the person whose interest they represent, are not allowed to communicate with the person concerned without the permission of the Government and can never communicate with them about the secret evidence. This means that they are often required to contest evidence on the basis of guesswork and estimation.
