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Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Bill

Yes, that is a very sensible suggestion; I will do that. I do not know whether the possibility of courts appointing independent counsel in such cases is less well known than it should be. I am quite clear that it will become better known, not least as a result of these debates, and also through efforts that I will make. That certainly will be factored into the work of the Crown Prosecution Service. There are issues that we need to consider very carefully to get the measures right. First, there is the question of the kind of witness anonymity order to which a power in respect of special counsel would apply. My hon. Friend the Member for Hendon believes that, in practice, use of the power would be confined to so-called civilian cases, in which civilians—not police officers or intelligence officers—were witnesses to really awful crimes. Some would be innocent bystanders, and some would be far from being innocent bystanders. We need to consider whether to exclude altogether, or provide a presumption against, such special counsel ever being applied for where undercover police officers are used—there are 40 such cases indicated in the CPS's current analysis—or in the case of undercover test purchases; there are currently 290 such cases. We have to pin the matter down before we come through with a legislative scheme. The facility should certainly not be available in the case of test purchases, and probably not in the case of undercover police officers, but we have to look very carefully at the circumstances. There was debate—and, frankly, uncertainty—about the exact role of special counsel. The hon. and learned Member for Torridge and West Devon (Mr. Cox) asked the hon. Member for Cambridge (David Howarth) some really pertinent questions on the subject, and they remain unanswered. They are not really questions that can be answered in the Chamber. We have to think very carefully about them. The hon. Member for Cambridge said that the cost of special counsel, which would be considerable if such counsel were used extensively, would be lower than the cost of convictions being aborted, the implication being that the guilty would walk free. He would be right, if those circumstances came about, but as the Crown Prosecution Service, which pays for special counsel, has a limited budget, voted by the House, we need to have an idea of the potential cost, not least given that special counsel are not used on that many occasions. There is also a practical matter: the number of counsel considered qualified to act as special counsel is fewer than 20. That is really important, too.