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Bribery Bill [Lords]

If my hon. Friend has a concern in respect of the armed forces, I should point out to him that the clause states that""'active service' means service in—""(a) an action or operation against an enemy,""(b) an operation outside the British Islands for the protection of life or property, or""(c) the military occupation of a foreign country or territory"—" and there are various definitions following that statement. My hon. Friend will, I hope, excuse me if I do not speculate about the precise terms of any decision made variously by the directors general or a Secretary of State about a particular operation. I shall return to this point later. The decisions that are taken are not taken capriciously. The functions of the three services are laid down in two Acts—the 1989 Act deals with the Security Service's functions and the 1994 Act deals with those of the Secret Intelligence Service and GCHQ. I assure my hon. Friend that it is unlikely or wholly improbable that the kind of circumstances that he describes would arise.