Children: Covert Human Intelligence Sources Debate

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Department: Department for International Development

Children: Covert Human Intelligence Sources

Lord Lexden Excerpts
Monday 18th March 2019

(5 years, 8 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Baroness Williams of Trafford Portrait Baroness Williams of Trafford
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The noble Lord brings forward an important point: someone recruited as a covert human intelligence source might be the child of someone who is already involved in criminal activity. Anybody under the age of 16 cannot be involved in anything to do with their parents.

Lord Lexden Portrait Lord Lexden (Con)
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Who conducts the independent assessment of potential child spies, to which my noble friend referred, and what happens to the results of those assessments?

Baroness Williams of Trafford Portrait Baroness Williams of Trafford
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The Investigatory Powers Commissioner has oversight of all decisions taken on these children.