Security

This House of Lords Library briefing provides information on the Criminal Finances Bill 2016–17 ahead of its second reading in the House of Lords on 9 March 2017. The Bill would make provisions to tackle money laundering and corruption, recover the proceeds of crime, and counter terrorist finance. It also seeks to make provisions to enable those who violate human rights to have their assets frozen and will create a new offence of a corporate failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion.

The Digital Economy Bill is scheduled to receive its second reading in the House of Lords on 13 December 2016. The Bill aims to enable access to fast digital communication services for citizens and businesses; to enable investment in digital communications infrastructure; to shape the emerging digital world to the benefit of children, consumers and businesses; and to support the digital transformation of government, enabling the delivery of better public services, world leading research and better statistics. This House of Lords Library briefing gives an overview of the provisions of the Bill. It focuses measures concerning the introduction of a broadband universal service obligation; protection for children from online pornography; public sector data sharing; the BBC and public service broadcasters. It outlines the policy background in those areas, and a summary of some of the key amendments made to the Bill during committee and report stages in the House of Commons.

On 20 October 2016, the House of Lords will debate the implications of the EU referendum for foreign and security policy cooperation with European countries. Theresa May and members of her Cabinet have stated that they intend for the UK to continue to cooperate closely with EU partners on areas such as security, defence, law enforcement and counter-terrorism after leaving the EU, although it is not yet clear exactly what form such cooperation may take.

This House of Lords Library briefing provides background reading in advance of the question for short debate on Tuesday 18 October 2016 on the potential effect on peace and stability in Europe and around the world of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union.

This House of Lords Library briefing provides an overview of the provisions of the Investigatory Powers Bill ahead of its Lords stages.

This House of Lords Library briefing provides background information in advance of the second reading of the Asset Freezing (Compensation) Bill in the House of Lords on Friday 10 June 2016.

The House of Lords is due to debate the Queen’s Speech over four days between 19 and 25 May 2016. This briefing is one of four prepared by the House of Lords Library to cover the themes of each day of debate.

The House of Lords is due to debate the Queen’s Speech over four days between 19 and 25 May 2016. This briefing is one of four prepared by the House of Lords Library to cover the themes of each day of debate.

This Lords Library briefing provides background information ahead of the debate in the House of Lords scheduled for 14 January 2016 on the "potential use of identity documentation in dealing with the challenges of assuring the identity of individuals". It does this through a short chronology of the history of ID cards in the UK over the last century. It then provides more information about two key pieces of legislation: the Identity Cards Act 2006 and the Identity Documentation Act 2010.

This Library Note has been prepared in advance of the debate in the House of Lords on 3 December 2015: "that this House takes note of the United Kingdom’s role in supporting international security and stability in the light of the Strategic Defence and Security Review".

This Library Note has been prepared to support the debate in the House of Lords on the protection of freedom of speech in universities on 26 November 2015.

This In Focus provides a briefing on the background and current status of the Wilson Doctrine, which concerns the interception of parliamentarians’ communications.

This In Focus briefing provides background information in advance of the second reading in the House of Lords of the Online Safety Bill [HL] on 17 July 2015.

This Note provides a summary of the recommendations of recent reports, including the report of David Anderson QC, and supporting material on the use of investigatory powers.

This Library Note draws on recent political developments to provide a concise background to ongoing discussions about human rights and civil liberties in the UK. It has been written to support the debate in the House of Lords on this subject on 2 July 2015.