---

Terrorism Bill

It is because of the way in which these issues have arisen. Having been intimately involved in reading the documents produced by the various committees of this House and the information we have from the reports of the noble Lord, Lord Carlile of Berriew, the noble and learned Lord is all too familiar with the fact that a lot of material is being disseminated and that a lot of it is terrorist material. A lot of that material has the ability to encourage others to commit and to help others to commit acts of terror. That is a mischief to which we have to address ourselves. Once that material has been disseminated and those who are responsible on our behalf for dealing with this matter in the criminal justice system have those items in their possession, it is proper for them to make inquiry in the way that we have provided. We think it is appropriate for there to be a defence in relation to this to distinguish those who legitimately have this material for the purpose of academic and other study and those who do not—who want to use it to encourage others to commit acts of terror. That is a mischief to which the Government have been very clear they want to direct their attention, have been very clear that they want to stop and have been very clear that they want to do it in a proportionate way. That is to enable those who are not culpable to have proper defences, but just as importantly to enable those who are culpable to be caught—it is part of our job. If I can turn—