Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Stella Creasy (Labour) on Thursday, 14 July 2022, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 19 July 2022 (named day). It was answered by Stephen McPartland (Conservative) on Tuesday, 19 July 2022 on behalf of the Home Office.

Covert Human Intelligence Sources

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her timescale is for publishing an updated code of practice for the treatment of juvenile covert human intelligence sources; and what stakeholders her Department has engaged with on the content of that update.

Answer

The Government currently plans to publish the revised Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS) Code of Practice in the autumn of this year. The CHIS Code provides comprehensive guidance to public authorities on their powers and duties in respect of CHIS, including children who are authorised as CHIS.

As part of the consultation process, Home Office officials engaged with a wide number of stakeholders, including children’s charities, the Children’s Commissioner for England and Wales (and devolved equivalents), as well as users of the Code.

In addition, on 13 December 2021, the Home Office launched a public consultation for a period of 8 weeks to seek views on the changes to the revised CHIS Code. The Home Office received a number of responses to the consultation and officials have been carefully considering all of these responses before finalising the changes to the Code.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
36756
Session
2022-23
Subjects
Codes of practice Covert human intelligence sources
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk