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England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions >> Secretary of State for the Home Department v AY [2012] EWHC 2054 (Admin) (19 July 2012) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2012/2054.html Cite as: [2012] EWHC 2054 (Admin) |
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PTA/16/2011 PTA/5/2012 |
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
PTA/5/2012 Royal Courts of Justice Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
____________________
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT |
Applicant |
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- and - |
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AY |
Respondent |
____________________
Jonathan Glasson and Carys Owen (instructed by Treasury Solicitor) for the Defendant
Mohammed Khamisa QC and Melanie Plimmer as the Special Advocate
Hearing dates: 29 and 30 May 2012 and 1 June 2012
Further written submissions served on 9 July 2012
____________________
Crown Copyright ©
MR JUSTICE SILBER:
I. Introduction
"57. Given the extremely serious nature of the Plot and the conclusions to be drawn from the material summarised above as to AY's role within it, I am entirely satisfied that it was necessary to impose the Control Order. I am also satisfied that it remains necessary bearing in mind the material that indicates the organisational role that he played, and the material indicating his potential future engagement in terrorism related activities, see paragraph 58 above".
"59 ..I am satisfied that the Secretary of State was justified in her conclusion that AY is a committed Islamist extremist who would represent a risk to the public if free from the constraints imposed by the Control Order".
II. The Statutory Regime
(i) The requirements for imposing Control Orders and TPIMs
"(1) In this Act 'terrorism' means the use or threat of action where -
(a) the action falls within subsection (2),(b) the use or threat is designed to influence the government or an international governmental organisation or to intimidate the public or a section of the public, and(c) the use or threat is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.
(2) Action falls within this subsection if it -
(a) involves serious violence against a person,(b) involves serious damage to property,(c) endangers a person's life, other than that of the person committing the action,(d) creates a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or a section of the public, or(e) is designed seriously to interfere with or seriously to disrupt an electronic system.
(3) The use or threat of action falling within subsection (2) which involves the use of firearms or explosives is terrorism whether or not subsection (1)(b) is satisfied.
(4) In this section—
(a) 'action' includes action outside the United Kingdom,(b) a reference to any person or to property is a reference to any person, or to property, wherever situated,(c) a reference to the public includes a reference to the public of a country other than the United Kingdom, and(d) 'the government' means the government of the United Kingdom, of a Part of the United Kingdom or of a country other than the United Kingdom."
"…involvement in terrorism-related activity is any one or more of the following -
(a) the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism;(b) conduct which facilitates the commission, preparation or instigation of such acts, or which is intended to do so;(c) conduct which gives encouragement to the commission, preparation or instigation of such acts, or which is intended to do so;(d) conduct which gives support or assistance to individuals who are known or believed by the individual concerned to be involved in conduct falling within paragraphs (a) to (c);and for the purposes of this subsection it is immaterial whether the acts of terrorism in question are specific acts of terrorism or acts of terrorism generally."
"… may make a [non-derogating] Control Order against an individual if he -
(a) has reasonable grounds for suspecting that the individual is or has been involved in terrorism-related activity; and(b) considers that it is necessary, for purposes connected with protecting members of the public from a risk of terrorism, to make a Control Order imposing obligations on that individual."
"… any obligations that the Secretary of State … considers necessary for purposes connected with preventing or restricting involvement by that individual in terrorism-related activity."
"...A…the Secretary of State reasonably believes that the individual is, or has been involved in terrorism-related activity…
…C…the Secretary of State reasonably considers that it is necessary, for purposes connected with protecting members of the public from a risk of terrorism, for terrorism prevention and investigation measures to be imposed on the individual.
…D…the Secretary of State reasonably considers that it is necessary, for purposes of preventing or restricting the individual's involvement in terrorism-related activity, for the specified terrorism prevention and investigation measures to be imposed on the individual.
…E…the court gives the Secretary of State permission under section 6, or the Secretary of State reasonably considers that the urgency of the case requires terrorism prevention and investigation measures to be imposed without obtaining such permission.
(6) In this section "new terrorism-related activity" means –
(a) if no TPIM relating to the individual has ever been in force, terrorism-related activity occurring at any time (whether before or after the coming into force of this Act);
…"
"Belief is a state of mind by which the person in question thinks that X is the case. Suspicion is a state of mind by which the person in question thinks that X may be the case".
"371. In these circumstances, I think that there are two problems with the appellants' criticism that SIAC failed to apply a proper standard of proof. The first is that, in deciding whether there are, as a matter of fact, reasonable grounds for suspicion or belief, SIAC is not necessarily concerned with primary facts, and, to that extent, there is no need to establish a primary fact on the balance of probabilities. For instance, subject to consideration of its reliability (which may raise all sorts of factors) a newspaper report relating to the activities of an appellant may be taken into account by the Secretary of State under s21 or by SIAC under s25. In such a case it is not necessary for SIAC to be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the reported facts are true; it would merely need to be satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, as to the existence of the newspaper report. (I should emphasise that SIAC may, even if so satisfied, give no or little weight to the contents of the newspaper report, if it thought it right to do so.) Secondly, when considering whether there are reasonable grounds for the relevant belief or suspicion, SIAC need not, as I have sought to explain, be concerned about satisfying itself that, on the balance of probabilities, the belief for suspicion is justified, or that it shares the belief or suspicion. It is merely concerned with deciding whether there are reasonable grounds for such belief or suspicion.
372. The question of whether someone is an international terrorist can be said to be a matter of fact, whereas the question of whether he is a threat to national security is itself a matter of assessment. However, the question of whether there are reasonable grounds for suspecting a person is a terrorist and believing he is a threat to national security is a question of assessment."
(ii) The review function of this Court
"(4) … The function of the court on an appeal against the renewal of a non-derogating Control Order… is to determine whether either or both of the following decisions of the Secretary of State was flawed–
(a) his decision that it is necessary, for purposes connected with protecting members of the public from a risk of terrorism, for an order imposing obligations on the controlled person to continue in force; and
(b) his decision that the obligations to be imposed by the renewed order…are necessary for purposes connected with preventing or restricting involvement by that person in terrorism-related activity".
"(9)(1)…the function of the Court is to review the decisions of the Secretary of State that the relevant conditions were met and continue to be met;"
"It is implicit in the scheme that if there is evidence that justifies the bringing of a criminal charge, a suspect will be prosecuted rather than made the subject of a Control Order."
a. "Whether it is necessary to impose any particular obligation on an individual in order to protect the public from the risk of terrorism involves the customary test of proportionality. The object of the obligations is to control the activities of the individual so as to reduce the risk that he will take part in any terrorism-related activity. The obligations that it is necessary to impose may depend upon the nature of the involvement in terrorism-related activities of which he is suspected. They may also depend upon the resources available to the Secretary of State and the demands on those resources. They may depend on arrangements that are in place, or that can be put in place, for surveillance." [63]
b. The Court recognised and confirmed that the Secretary of State was better placed than the Court to decide the measures necessary to protect the public from the activities of a terrorist suspect, and deference should therefore be accorded to his views on the second aspect of the decision [64] to [65]: and that:-
"The exercise has something in common with the familiar one of fixing conditions of bail. Some obligations may be particularly onerous or intrusive and, in such cases, the court should explore alternative means of achieving the same result. The provision of section 7(2) for modification of a Control Order 'with the consent of the controlled person' envisages dialogue between those acting for the Secretary of State and the controlled person, and this is likely to be appropriate, with the assistance of the court, at the stage that the court is considering the necessity for the individual obligations." [65]
"(12) If the court determines…that a decision of the Secretary of State was flawed, its only powers are –
(a) power to quash the order;
(b) power to quash one or more obligations imposed by the order; and
(c) power to give directions to the Secretary of State for the revocation of the order or for the modification of the obligations it imposes.
(13) In every other case the court must decide that the Control Order is to continue in force."
"(5) The court has the following powers (and only those powers) on a review hearing—
(a) power to quash the TPIM notice;(b) power to quash measures specified in the TPIM notice;(c) power to give directions to the Secretary of State for, or in relation to,(i) the revocation of the TPIM notice, or(ii) the variation of measures specified in the TPIM notice.
(6) If the court does not exercise any of its powers under subsection (5), the court must decide that the TPIM notice is to continue in force.
(7) If the court exercises a power under subsection (5)(b) or (c)(ii), the court must decide that the TPIM notice is to continue in force subject to that exercise of that power."
III. The Issues.
(i) Introduction
(1) Condition A: "The Secretary of State reasonably believes that the individual is, or has been, involved in terrorism-related activities" ("the relevant activity"). That is a matter to which I will return in section IV below;
(2) Condition B: "Some or all of the relevant activity is new terrorism related activity". Section 3 (6) states that "new terrorism-related activity" means "(a) if no TPIM notice relating to the individual has ever been in force, terrorism-related activity occurring at any time (whether before or after the coming into force of this Act)." In this case, no TPIM notice relating to AY has ever been in force prior to the notice under consideration in these proceedings, and therefore any relevant activity falling within condition A (whenever arising) will be deemed "new" terrorism-related activity within the meaning of section 3(6). In those circumstances, it is unnecessary to consider this condition independently from condition A;
(3) Condition C: "The Secretary of State reasonably considers that it is necessary for purposes connected with protecting members of the public from a risk of terrorism, for terrorism prevention and investigation measures to be imposed on the individual". A fundamental part of the Open Advocate's case for AY is that Parliament recognises that if a person had not been subjected to restricted measures for two years, then in the absence of terrorism-related activity during that period, it would not be necessary and proportionate to continue to impose restrictive measures on that person. So the imposition of the TPIM on AY was contrary to the intention of Parliament with the consequence that the Secretary of State erred in finding that it was necessary and proportionate to impose a TPIM on AY. This together with the more general issue of whether the Secretary of State could consider that the imposition of a TPIM was necessary for the stipulated reasons will be considered in section V below;
(4) Condition D: "The Secretary of State reasonably considers it is necessary for purposes connected with preventing or restricting the individual's involvement in terrorism related activity for the specified terrorism prevention and investigation measures to be imposed on the individual." As I have explained above, the issue of the appeal against the reporting measure and the challenge to the exclusion zone are to be determined by me at a later date;
(5) Condition E: "The Secretary of State has been given permission by the Court under section 6; or the Secretary of State reasonably considers that the urgency of the case requires terrorism prevention and investigation measures to be imposed without obtaining any such permission". The Secretary of State obtained permission in accordance with section 6 on 18 January 2012. Therefore this condition need not be considered further.
(ii) The Effect of AY's Acquittal and his Criminal Trial
(iii) The Weight to be given to the Conclusions in the 2010 Judgment
"55. In the light of the material contained in the open Security Service Submissions, the principal features of which are summarised above, I am satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that AY was involved in terrorism-related activity. There has been no challenge either to the facts set out in the Submissions, nor to the assessments made by the Security Service in reliance upon such factual material. The 'innocent' explanation for his association with the convicted members of the network and with AM advanced at trial, has been demonstrated to be false. He has offered no explanation of the email evidence adduced at the second trial, nor of the evidence given by his co-defendant as to his, AY's, involvement in the Plot."
"37... I would not cast doubt on the general proposition that in public law cases, where there has been a previous decision in proceedings between the same parties, and the same question arises in subsequent proceedings the starting point is likely to be the decision in the first proceedings. However, all will depend on the circumstances".
"42… in these circumstances a judge should in my opinion be very reluctant to treat the finding of the judge conducting the hearing under an earlier order as in practice determinative, save perhaps in the kind of case to which I referred earlier where two hearings for some reason are very close together".
"5. …I must make my own decisions, but must check them against those made by SIAC. If there are significant differences, I am not inhibited from reaching my own, different, conclusion; but in such a case, I should ask myself, and explain, why the differences exist. In summary, I should check my own findings against those made by SIAC, rather than treat SIAC's findings as a building block for my own".
IV. Condition A
(i) Overview of the Secretary of State's case
(ii) AY's evidence.
"4a. I answered the allegations relating to my activities before 2006 fully before a jury. Furthermore it is not suggested that I have engaged in any terrorism-related activity for nearly six years. It seems however, that I am about to remain subject to coercive TPIMs. until I admit to the allegations made against me but without any of the protection that exists within conventional procedures, including a right to silence."
(iii) AY's activities from 2002 until he arrives in the UK on 18 July 2006
(iv) Events from 18 July 2006 until AY's Arrest on 9 August 2006
"ny [sic] friend that would like to see you is arif. You have met him before .His is good friends with abdil and jameel so you don't need to worry bout [sic] that he can help them. he knows about the dates and he knows his aftershaves very well as he had a cosmetics shop before. but because his shop was bankrupt he is a bit out of touch about the new desighber [sic] aftersahvees[sic]. so you could update him about the ones you were shown by me it would be helpful cos[sic]h[sic] needs to show Jameel afterwards".
(a) the e-mail of 25 July 2006 (which is set out in paragraph 73 above) and which includes the words" ny [sic] friend that would like to see you is arif. you have met him before"; and also
(b) an e-mail dated 29 July 2006 sent by Sarwar (who was with AY) informing Jamil that he and AY had met and in which Sarwar wrote "I am with arif, didn't thought it would be him. top dude!".
(v) Suicide Videos
(a) in several e-mails between Ali Khan and Rauf in Pakistan there were references to items such as "cameras" and "projectors". They also corresponded regarding an individual known as "the camera man" or "camera dude" and the Security Service assesses these references as referring to the creation of martyrdom videos exhibited in the Overt criminal trials;
(b) Rauf was in contact with Sarwar regarding martyrdom videos and in an e-mail from Sarwar to Rauf on 24 July 2006 Sarwar informed Rauf that he "met with cha cha [Ali Khan] and said he got a wedding film that he needs to give me. Shall i take it off him…" to which Rauf replied to Sarwar on 25 July 2006 and told him to "take cha cha wedding film off him. also can you show Arif how to make a film cos he is not very good and he wants to make one for his sisters wedding". The Security Service assess that "wedding film" is code for martyrdom video, and that Rauf was instructing Sarwar to take Ali Khan's martyrdom video with him and it was Sarwar's role to coordinate the martyrdom videos and then to send them to Pakistan;
(c) in an e-mail on 7 August 2006, Sarwar contacted Rauf and told him "I have sent you some new business files, and some new movies and music. You should receive them tomorrow. It should be with yaq's friend". The Security Service assess that Sarwar's reference to "new movies and music" were coded terms referring to martyrdom videos and therefore Sarwar was telling Rauf that he had sent the martyrdom videos to him. This e-mail was sent at 1.28pm on the day after Sarwar and Ali Khan had met AY and passed him items, some which he then passed to Al Ghabra as I have explained in paragraph 94. The Security Service assess that it is likely that some of the items passed to AY by Ali Khan and Sarwar were martyrdom videos and that AY was playing a role in facilitating the transit of the videos to Pakistan; and
(d) in a telephone call to Sarwar on 6 August 2006 AY was overheard saying "I have been meaning to speak to you. There's something I've forgotten. I definitely need it to be 8mm. Can you get someone else to do it?". The Security Service assess the reference to 8mm was to 8mm film, and that AY was speaking to Sarwar with regard to the martyrdom videos. Bearing in mind that AY subsequently passed some of the items received from Ali Khan and Sarwar to Al Ghabra, it is assessed that the items passed to Al Ghabra may have included the martyrdom videos and therefore Al Ghabra may have had a role in their facilitation to Pakistan.
(vi) Associating with AM
(vii) Security Awareness in the Overt Plot
(viii) Matters arising after the imposition of the Control Order
(a) At no point during the Control Order proceedings or since the TPIM has been imposed on him has AY made any effort to answer or deny the detailed allegations put to him by the Security Service, even though he knew the importance attached to his failure to answer in the 2010 judgment;
(b) AY did not give a truthful or a full account of his activities in police interviews or at his criminal trial when he put forward a positive case, which was shown to be false by Sarwar's evidence at his retrial together with e-mail evidence then made available;
(c) AY has continued to demonstrate no remorse or regret for what is assesses by the Security Service to be his role in the Plot which, as I have explained, was described by Henriques J as "the most grave and wicked conspiracy ever proved within the jurisdiction"; and that
(d) AY has shown himself to be a committed extremist who is both security aware and prepared to apply a high level of self-discipline to further his extremist aims. It is assessed that AY is aware of intelligence gathering techniques and he has taken steps to avoid these techniques being employed against him.
(ix) Conclusions on Condition A
"It is important to bear in mind that the need for disclosure is not avoided because the view is taken that there can be no answer to the undisclosed material. However cogent it may be, if the subject must know it to enable him to deal properly with the allegation, it must be disclosed. If he can, he will be able to refute it: if he cannot, he and others will at least know and understand why the order was imposed upon him. But a relevant consideration is the reaction of the subject to such information as has been disclosed to him. In para 86 of AF (No 3) Lord Hope said:
"86 What will be needed in the application of this principle will, of course, vary from case to case. The judge is entitled to take the view that a person who really does have a case to answer will make every effort to provide his special advocate with the information he needs to make the challenge. He will also note that the Strasbourg court was careful not to insist on disclosure of the evidence. It is a sufficient statement of the allegations against him, not the underlying material or the sources from which it comes, that the controlled person is entitled to ask for. The judge will be in the best position to strike the balance between what is needed to achieve this and what can properly be kept closed."
Thus a failure to deal with allegations to the extent which is possible having regard to the disclosure given can be taken into account against a subject".
(x) The Novel Issue
V. Condition C
(i) AY's "Novel Issue"
"… the background to the passing of the TPIMA and one of the mischiefs to which it is responding showed that Parliament intended that the measures imposed on terrorist suspects should be temporary and in particular that if a person had been subjected to restricted measures for two years, then in the absence of terrorism-related activity during that period it was not necessary and proportionate to continue to impose restrictive measures on that individual."
"… does not mean that it would never be permissible to impose TPIMs on a person who has been subject to a Control Order for 2 years, but is not believed to have committed any terrorism-related activity during that time. The TPIMA potentially leaves open such a possibility: pursuant to the definition of 'new terrorism related activity' in section 3(6) of the TPIMA. An individual who is not believed to have engaged in terrorism-related activity for some years prior to the coming into force of the TPIMA may still be regarded as having committed 'new terrorism-related activity' if he has never previously been subject to a TPIMA notice. This is the case, irrespective of whether he was previously subject to a Control Order.
But the possibility that this can occur does not alter Parliament's clear indication of when such measures are necessary. The only logical reason for allowing for such a possibility would be in exceptional and unusual circumstances where time spent subject to restrictive measures under a Control Order was substantively different to the equivalent time a person would have spent subject to restrictive measures under TPIMs. Furthermore, such a difference would have to be set out clearly and be sufficient to justify a departure from Parliament's assessment of necessity in the context of TPIMs, under section 5. It is also axiomatic that the seriousness of the allegations against the person and the danger they may pose could not, of themselves, constitute grounds for distinguishing between time spent under a Control Order and time spent under TPIMs, given that the two year maximum for TPIMs applies irrespective of the gravity of the allegations."
"57. I have reviewed the cases current as of 10 December 2010. For national security reasons I can give little detail in this report. However, the following can be published and may be of assistance.
58. Two of the controlees have been the subject of orders for more than 2 years. Substantial and continuing risk assessments have been carried out on both, which conclude that they continue to present actual or potential and significant danger to national security and public safety. I agree with the assessment that the Control Order on each has substantially reduced the present danger that exceptionally they still present despite their having been subject to a Control Order for a significant period of time."
"these 'terrorism prevention and investigation measures' will have a two-year maximum time limit, which will clearly demonstrate that these are targeted, temporary measures and not to be used simply as a means of parking difficult cases indefinitely." (Hansard 26 January 2011 –col 307)
"Control Orders remained in force for 12 months unless renewed. The 2005 Act did not specify a limit to the number of times that a Control Order could be renewed, although the statutory test for renewing the Control Order had to be met in order for it to remain in force – and whether the test was met was considered by the High Court on appeal from the individual. A conclusion of the Control Orders review was that measures imposed under the replacement system should be subject to a two-year time limit, beyond which they could not remain in force without evidence of further engagement in terrorism related activity. This section gives effect to that time limit"
"(1) A TPIM notice –
(a) Comes into force when the notice is served on the individual or, if later, at the time specified for this purpose in the notice; and(b) Is in force for the period of one year.
(2) The Secretary of State may by notice extend a TPIM notice for a period of one year beginning when the TPIM notice would otherwise expire.
(3) A TPIM notice –
(a) may be extended under subsection (2) only if conditions A, C and D [of section 3] are met; and(b) may be extended only on one occasion.
(4) …"
(1) A discretion accorded by a statute is not unfettered. It is conferred by Parliament with the intention that "it should be used to promote the policy and objects of the Act" (Padfield v Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food [1968] AC 997, at 1030 per Lord Reid);
(2) A power conferred by a statute to take steps that are considered "necessary" is a form of discretionary power which must thus be exercised in conformity with the intention of Parliament (see R v Devon CC ex p George [1989] 1 AC 573, at 604A-605D per Lord Keith);
(3) Before determining whether a power has been lawfully exercised, the Court must first construe the enactment by which the power is conferred to determine its policy and objectives (Tower Hamlets LBC v Chetnik Developments Ltd [1988] AC at 858, 873 per Lord Bridge);
(4) Determining the "policy and objects" of an Act are questions of "construction", and are "always a matter of law for the court" (Padfield 23 at 1030);
(5) In construing the intention of Parliament, the Court looks not simply at the wording of a particular provision of an Act but at the mischief the provision was intending to remove. That is because "Parliament is taken to do nothing without a reason. Therefore there is a reason in the passing of every Act, and for every enactment within it… [T]he reason for an Act's passing must lie in some perceived defect in the existing law… That defect is the 'mischief' to which the Act is directed" (Bennion on Statutory Interpretation (5th edn, 2005) at 916);
(6) It should be assumed that Parliament acts logically and the Courts should "seek to avoid a construction that creates an anomaly or otherwise produces an irrational or illogical result" (Bennion at 986 25). In construing Parliament's intention it is thus to be assumed that Parliament intends to respond to the mischief it is seeking to remedy in a way that is logical;
(7) Once Parliament's intention is determined by the Court it should ascertain whether the power in issue has been exercised in accordance with that intention. That is because a power may not be used "in a manner which is not in accord with the intention of the statute which conferred it" (Padfield at 1034A).
"(1) A TPIM notice—
(a) comes into force when the notice is served on the individual or, if later, at the time specified for this purpose in the notice; and(b) is in force for the period of one year.
(2)The Secretary of State may by notice extend a TPIM notice for a period of one year beginning when the TPIM notice would otherwise expire.
(3)A TPIM notice—
(a) may be extended under subsection (2) only if conditions A, C and D are met; and(b) may be so extended on only one occasion".
"The Secretary of State's powers under this Act in relation to an individual are not affected by a Control Order having been made in relation to that individual".
"A TPIM notice—
(a)may be extended or imposed for the first time under subsection (2) only if conditions A, C and D are met; and
(b)may be so extended on only one occasion but only then if there has been no previous Control Order in force unless… ".
"where in relation to the facts of the instant case (a) the enactment under inquiry is capable of one meaning only, and (b) on an informed interpretation of that enactment the interpretative criteria raise no real doubt as to whether that grammatical meaning is the one intended by the legislator, the legal meaning of the enactment corresponds to that grammatical meaning, and is to be applied accordingly" (page 584).
"I therefore reach the conclusion, subject to any question of
Parliamentary privilege, that the exclusionary rule should be
relaxed so as to permit reference to Parliamentary materials
where
a. Legislation is ambiguous or obscure, or leads to an
absurdity;
b. The material relied upon consists of one or more
statements by a Minister or other promoter of the
Bill together if necessary with such other
Parliamentary material as is necessary to understand
such statements and their effect;
c. The statements relied upon are clear".
"Here the issue turns not on the meaning of a statutory expression but on the scope of the statutory power. In this context a minister might describe the circumstances in which the government contemplated use of a power, and might be pressed about exercise of the power in other situations which might arise. No doubt the minister would seek to give helpful answers. But it is most unlikely that he would seek to define the legal effect of the draftsman's language, or to predict all the circumstances in which the power might be used, or to bind any successor administration. Only if a minister were, improbably, to give a categorical assurance to Parliament that a power would not be used in a given situation, such that Parliament could be taken to have legislated on that basis, does it seem to me that a Parliamentary statement on the scope of a power would be properly admissible."
"Then there is the question whether it is proper to examine the statements made by ministers during the passage of the 1975 Act through Parliament as reported in Hansard. Here again I think that it is, at best, highly doubtful whether in this case that this exercise is legitimate. My own view is that it is not. It is important to appreciate the purpose for which Your Lordships have been invited to undertake the exercise. It is not to construe words used in the legislation which are said to be ambiguous or obscure or which, having regard to their ordinary meaning, would lead to absurdity: see Pepper v. Hart [1993] AC 593 640C per Lord Browne-Wilkinson. Its purpose is to identify the reasons of policy for which the discretionary power to make orders restricting or preventing increases in rents was sought to be obtained from Parliament by the Executive. It is not the language used by the draftsman that is in issue here, but what was in the mind of the minister.
In my opinion there are sound reasons of principle for rejecting the argument that statement made by ministers in Parliament may be used to identify the policy and objects of an enactment for the purpose of identifying the scope of a discretionary power which Parliament has conferred on the Executive. As Lord Reid made clear in Padfield v. Minister of Agriculture Fisheries & Food [1968] AC 997 1030 B – C, the policy and objects of the Act must be determined by construing the Act. The underlying rule is that it is the intention of Parliament that defines the policy and objects of the Act, not the purpose or intention of the Executive. The law-making function belongs to Parliament, not the Executive."
"As I have already sought to explain, the passages in Hansard to which Your Lordships have been referred deal not with the meaning of words or possible interpretations of expressions that were or might be ambiguous but with statements made by ministers as to matters of policy. I consider that to permit resort to Hansard as a source for material of that kind to define the scope of a discretionary power conferred by Parliament would be to extend the decision in Pepper v. Hart well beyond its proper limits. I respectfully agree with my noble and learned friend Lord Bingham of Cornhill for all the reasons that he has given, that it is important that the conditions laid down by the House in that case should be strictly insisted upon."
"I respectfully agree with my noble and learned friend Lord Bingham of Cornhill that the conditions laid down by the House in Pepper v. Hart should be strictly adhered to."
"They are part of the legislative background, but they are no more than this. This cannot be emphasised too strongly. Government statements, however they are made and however explicit they may be cannot control the meaning of an Act of Parliament."
"15. I must now consider Mr Otty's submissions as to the approach I am required to adopt having regard to the provisions of the 2011 Act. The Act in Section 3 lays down 5 conditions which have to be met if a TPIM is to be imposed
.....
"17…There is no doubt that, since there has been no previous TPIM, the definition of new TRA means that it is not necessary to show any such recent TRA. But I accept that its absence will carry weight and will mean that it is more difficult for the applicant to establish that a TPIM is necessary. However, if there is material which persuades the applicant and me that unless a TPIM is imposed BM will be likely to reengage in TRA, the order can and should be upheld. It is necessary in the circumstances to consider in some detail the more recent allegations of TRA."
"13 None of that, however, establishes what Parliament's intention was in the case of an individual, such as AM, who had already been subject to a Control Order made because the Secretary of State reasonably suspected him of involvement in the same terrorism-related activity as that in respect of which she now claims to have a reasonable belief. If the 2011 Act had been silent about the issue, discerning the parliamentary intention might have been problematic. But it is not. Two provisions put Parliament's intention beyond doubt. Section 3(6)(a) expressly provides what is to happen if no TPIM notice relating to the individual has ever been in force. In that event, "new terrorism-related activity" means "terrorism-related activity occurring at any time (whether before or after the coming into force of this Act)". The draftsman could readily have excluded activity occurring before the coming into force of the 2011 Act which had given rise to reasonable suspicion on the part of the Secretary of State so as to found the making of a Control Order; but he did not. The absence of such a proviso is telling. It demonstrates that the limitation for which Mr. Squires contends cannot have been in the mind of the legislature when it enacted the 2011 Act. If there were any room for doubt, it is conclusively allayed by paragraph 4 of schedule 8 which, in terms, provides that the Secretary of State's powers under the 2011 Act "are not affected by a Control Order having been made in relation to that individual". If the Secretary of State's powers are not so affected, the exercise of the powers must likewise be unaffected. The inescapable conclusion is that Parliament has addressed the problem identified by Mr. Squires and provided a clear answer to it: provided that the conditions set out in section 3 are satisfied, the Secretary of State is entitled to impose measures by a TPIM notice on an individual in respect of activities which wholly or in part founded the making of a Control Order. Of course, the fact that a Control Order was made and, in the case of AM, has been in force for 4 ½ years, is a relevant factor in determining whether or not the imposition of measures by a TPIM notice is necessary – i.e. whether or not condition C is satisfied. But it is no more than that – a factor to be taken into account".
"16.For those reasons, I am satisfied that the Secretary of State was not disentitled to form the reasonable belief that AM had been involved in new terrorism-related activity by reason of the fact that on the open evidence it had all occurred before the making of a Control Order in respect of him on 21st June 2007".
(ii) Is Condition C satisfied?
"Above all, he himself could provide evidence of a change of heart on his part and in particular that he has recanted from his former views and that he has renounced his previous activity (see as an example PP v Secretary of State for the Home Department (SC/54/2006 [28]))..."
"All of this material, taken together, satisfies us on balance of probabilities, that the appellant has been involved in facilitating terrorist activity overseas; and so, in consequence poses a significant risk to national security…. Further, despite the fact that the appellant has been detained continuously for six years, we share the Security Service's assessment that he remains a risk to national security. He has shown no sign of disavowing his former beliefs or associates. Indeed, his most recent witness statement dated January 2006 maintains that the accusations against him are false and that his purposes and actions were wholly benign. Only a credible and radical change in OPEN outlook could demonstrate that the risk has eliminated or reduced to an acceptably low level. There has been none."
'3. In his statement made in support of his asylum claim, Z admitted that he was a supporter of the GIA. In its General decision of 29th October 2003, SIAC found that the GIA was a functioning terrorist organisation, operating in Algeria, formerly associated with Al Qaeda. 'Participation by a person in its activities would provide clear evidence that the person concerned posed a risk to the national security of the United Kingdom. Convincing evidence of irrevocable abandonment of former views would be required before the risk could be assessed as acceptable.'
..
7. For reasons set out in both the open and closed judgments, we are satisfied on balance of probabilities that he has been involved in facilitating terrorist activity overseas. It is not asserted, and we have no reason to believe, that he has renounced his former views or would be willing in the future so to conduct himself as to pose no threat to the national security of the United Kingdom. The risk which he presents has not been eliminated or reduced to an acceptably low level.
8. For those reasons, we agree with the Secretary of State's certificate dated 29th August 2006, issued under Section 33 ACTSA 2001…'
VI. Conclusion.