In the Undercover Policing Inquiry, restriction orders are made to prevent information being made public, either by the Inquiry itself or those from whom it is seeking evidence or statements.
This covers a broad range of material but includes the real names and cover names of undercover officers, names of women targeted for relationships, tactics used by the undercovers, or information which has national security implications. Such orders are handed down by the Inquiry Chair and, as with most orders, has legal penalties if breached.
A large number of orders granted are Anonymity Orders to former police officers. Some non-state core participants have also been granted anonymity. They are often referred to as ‘Section 19 Orders’ after the relevant part of the Inquiries Act 2005, which gives the Chair the power to make them insofar as they are necessary for the Inquiry to achieve its objectives (for instance, if it thinks anonymity will encourage a witness to be more cooperative with the Inquiry, or to otherwise protect them).
Restriction Orders also apply to information in documents, as in some cases information will be redacted before publication. When a witness receives a Rule 9 request to provide a witness statement, it is often on condition that they have accepted the terms of the accompanying restriction order. The person has to sign a document to confirm that they will not disclose or share any material. Usually, only the individual and their recognised legal representative have access to the material. In some cases though, requests have been successfully made for others to be shown the material where it’s deemed helpful.
The Restriction Orders can be seriously limiting, as even spouses or partners of witnesses are not allowed to see the material. Those named in the documents as part of the same group being reported on cannot be told that their name is in the document without express permission from the Inquiry.
A third form of restriction order relates to information which is deemed sensitive and would be ‘detrimental’ to national security, etc. This is the reason for some of the redactions in documents and disclosure published by the Inquiry.
The Inquiry has adopted an extensive screening process of all documents it intends to rely on and uses a complex Disclosure Protocol to assist itself with this. An Open Generic Grounds for Restriction has been published setting out why redactions are made. It identifies a number of ‘umbrella categories’ of restrictions:
- Harm to people: names, other details that might identify a person who should not be identified, signatures and handwriting.
- Harm to policing: recruitment and training; backstopping and legend building; operational tactics; police assets; capacity and priorities; harm to ongoing investigations or prosecutions.
- Other: including national security, harm to international relations, damage to commercial interests; reporting restrictions in place in other legal proceedings, sensitive information of limited relevance.
A related order is a Restricted Reporting Order, which allows live evidence to be given but sets conditions preventing press or members of the public in attendance reporting it further.