Annexes
The Intelligence and Security
Committee of Parliament
The Rt. Hon. Hazel Blears, MP
Dr. Julian Lewis, MP
The Rt. Hon. Lord Butler KG GCB CVO
The Most Hon. The Marquess of Lothian QC PC
The Rt. Hon. Sir Menzies Campbell CH CBE QC, MP
Ms Fiona Mactaggart, MP
Mr Mark Field, MP
The Rt. Hon. Sir Malcolm Rifkind, MP
The Rt. Hon. George Howarth, MP
The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC) is a statutory committee of Parliament
that has responsibility for oversight of the UK intelligence community. The Committee was originally
established by the Intelligence Services Act 1994, and has recently been reformed, and its powers
reinforced, by the Justice and Security Act 2013.
The Committee oversees the intelligence and security activities of the UK, including the policies,
expenditure, administration and operations19 of the Security Service (MI5), the Secret Intelligence
Service (MI6) and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). The Committee also
scrutinises the work of other parts of the UK intelligence community, including the Joint Intelligence
Organisation and the National Security Secretariat in the Cabinet Office; Defence Intelligence in the
Ministry of Defence; and the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism in the Home Office.
The Committee consists of nine Members drawn from both Houses of Parliament. The Chair is
elected by its Members. The Members of the Committee are subject to Section 1(1)(b) of the
Official Secrets Act 1989 and are routinely given access to highly classified material in carrying out
their duties.
The Committee sets its own agenda and work programme. It takes evidence from Government
Ministers, the Heads of the intelligence and security Agencies, officials from the intelligence
community, and other witnesses as required. The Committee is supported in its work by an
independent Secretariat and an Investigator. It also has access to legal, technical and financial
expertise where necessary.
The Committee produces an Annual Report on the discharge of its functions. The Committee may
also produce Reports on specific investigations. Prior to the Committee publishing its Reports,
sensitive material that would damage national security is blanked out (‘redacted’). This is indicated
by *** in the text. The intelligence and security Agencies may request the redaction of material in a
Report if its publication would damage their work, for example by revealing their targets, methods,
sources or operational capabilities. The Committee considers these requests for redaction carefully.
The Agencies have to demonstrate clearly how publication of the material in question would be
damaging before the Committee agrees to redact it. The Committee aims to ensure that only the
minimum of text is redacted from the Report. The Committee believes that it is important that
Parliament and the public should be able to see where information had to be redacted. This means
that the published Report is the same as the classified version sent to the Prime Minister (albeit with
redactions). The Committee also prepares from time to time wholly confidential reports which it
submits to the Prime Minister.
19 Subject to the criteria set out in section 2 of the Justice and Security Act 2013.
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