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Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Bill

I respectfully agree with the noble Lord, but I wanted to make sure that I was not presumptuously disregarding giving him the longer answer that he might have desired. Government Amendment No. 2A was largely designed for the avoidance of doubt and to prevent unnecessary legal argument about the effect of the emergency legislation that will come into force on Royal Assent. This amendment puts that matter beyond doubt, even following the abolition of the common law in relation to such applications. The identity of witnesses can be withheld from the defence before and during the making of an application for a witness anonymity order. To deal with the issue raised by the noble Lord, Lord Marlesford, there is separate procedure for court rules. I am sure they will be promulgated as quickly as the rules committee can make them. These detailed issues will be considered in due course. The rules committee has on occasion done things remarkably speedily if it has felt the matter is pressing. I would not like to speak on its behalf, but I am confident that it will use its best endeavours to get whatever rules may be appropriate out as speedily and as efficaciously as humanly possible. We then looked at how we deal with these matters practically. I have already explained the importance of dealing with the prosecution knowing the content of the witness identity. In these sorts of circumstances, it is not possible to get total parity of treatment because there is no duty on behalf of the defendant to disclose all unused and other material in the interests of justice to ensure that he is validly dealt with under the procedure.