Inquiry into Afghan data leak to be conducted by Parliament's security watchdog
The peer has previously voiced concern over 'serious constitutional issues' raised by the handling of the breach that saw the details of 18,714 applicants for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) scheme released in 2022.
The leak prompted an unprecedented superinjunction amid fears the Taliban could target would-be refugees for reprisals, meaning the ISC, which routinely reviews sensitive material, was not briefed.
It also saw the establishment of a secret scheme, the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR), to bring some of those affected to the UK at a projected final cost of about £850 million.
In a statement on Monday, Lord Beamish said the committee 'has agreed that, once it has considered the requested material, it will conduct an inquiry into the intelligence community's role and activity in connection with the loss of data relating to Arap applicants in February 2022'.
The ISC, which is made up of MPs and members of the House of Lords, had asked for the release of defence assessments that formed the basis of the superinjunction, as well as other material relating to the Arap scheme.
It hard argued that under the Justice and Security Act 2013, classification of material is not grounds on which information can be withheld from the committee, given its purpose is to scrutinise the work of the UK intelligence community.
Thousands of Afghans included on the list of people trying to flee the Taliban are unlikely to receive compensation after their details were accidentally leaked.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the Government would 'robustly defend' any legal action or bid for compensation, adding these were 'hypothetical claims'.
It has also been reported that the MoD will not proactively offer compensation to those affected.
In total, the Government expects 6,900 people to be brought to the UK under the ARR scheme, which was introduced under the previous Tory administration after a defence official leaked the data 'in error' in February 2022.
Along with the Afghan nationals, the breach saw details of more than 100 British officials compromised, including special forces and MI6 personnel.
The Government has been contacted for comment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
ICE wants to target Gen Z in PR blitz including ads on YouTube, HBO and X to fill 14,000 roles
Donald Trump's administration is urgently trying to launch an ad campaign to help recruit more than 14,000 immigration officers who can rapidly remove people from the country, government documents say. Immigration and Customs Enforcement specifically wants to target 'Gen Z and early-career professionals,' as well as former law enforcement officers, military veterans and people from legal fields, according to the agency's request for information, the first step in a government procurement process to begin contracting with eligible firms. ICE wants to reach more than 42 million people in those 'target audience groups' across social media platforms as well as through ads on Hulu, HBO Max and Amazon Prime, among other networks, the pitch says. 'This is a critical priority,' the agency wrote on the government's procurement website. 'ICE has an immediate need to begin recruitment efforts and requires specialized commercial advertising experience, established infrastructure, and qualified personnel to activate without delay.' Marketing firms should be able to zero in on potential recruits through 'geofencing,' which delivers ads based on a viewer's location, as well as 'behavioral' practices, according to the documents, first reported by 404 Media. The effort ties together with the Trump administration's 'national launch and awareness saturation initiative aimed at dominating both digital and traditional media channels with urgent, compelling recruitment messages,' according to the pitch. The Independent has requested comment from ICE. Republicans in Congress earmarked $30 billion for the hiring spree, alongside $45 billion in new funding for ICE detention centers. Altogether, Trump's 'big, beautiful' domestic policy bill sets aside more than $170 billion for immigration enforcement over the next decade. That injection of taxpayer cash makes the law enforcement agency one of the most expensive police forces in the world, outpacing most foreign military budgets. Homeland Security is also advertising a 'maximum $50,000 signing bonus' and student loan forgiveness for new recruits. Secretary Kristi Noem announced Wednesday that she is dropping age limit requirements and allowing people older than 40 to apply, 'so even more patriots will qualify to join ICE in its mission to arrest murderers, pedophiles, gang members, rapists, and other criminal illegal aliens from America's streets,' according to DHS. And people as young as 18 years old can apply, Noem told Fox News Wednesday. ICE is looking to hire more removal officers, Homeland Security Investigations agents, attorneys and other personnel. The pace of daily immigration arrests fell by nearly 20 percent in July following a wave of court challenges, mass protests, and reports suggesting that morale within ICE ranks has been plummeting with officers spending more time 'arresting gardeners' than investigating major crimes. 'It's miserable,' one ICE official told The Atlantic last month. 'It became a contest of how many deportations could be reported to Stephen Miller by December,' added Adam Boyd, an attorney who resigned from the agency's legal department in June. In May, White House adviser Stephen Miller announced on Fox News that the administration had set a goal of arresting 3,000 people a day, and that Trump 'is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every day.' But in court filings, government lawyers have denied any such arrest targets. ICE has not been directed to 'meet any numerical quota or target for arrests, detentions, removals, field encounters, or any other operational activities that ICE or its components undertake in the course of enforcing federal immigration law,' they wrote to a federal appeals court last week. Between July 1 and 27, ICE averaged 990 daily arrests, down from 1,224 the previous month, according to government data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan research project at Syracuse University. ICE is likely to face significant roadblocks in reaching 14,000 new recruits, according to analysts and former law enforcement officials. Without effective guardrails to screen how those agents are hired and who exactly is filling those roles, the government may be setting itself up to repeat critical past mistakes the last time there was a surge in new recruits, experts said. But the agency is growing at such a rate that 'we're going to see an ICE that it is going to be hard for any future administration to shrink,' former acting ICE director Josh Sandweg said earlier this year. The agency's 'capacity to deport will certainly be at the highest level it's ever been in the history of the United States,' he added.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Gordon Brown backs gambling tax reform to tackle child poverty
Online casinos and slot machines should be taxed more to raise some of the money needed to cover the cost of lifting children out of poverty, according to a new report backed by a former prime minister. Reforms to gambling taxes could generate the £3.2 billion needed to scrap the two-child limit and benefit cap, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said. The think tank said axing the policies could lift half a million children out of poverty and 'reverse years of rising hardship for low-income families'. The two-child limit restricts child tax credit and universal credit (UC) to the first two children in most households, while the benefit cap sees the amount of benefits a household receives reduced to ensure claimants do not get more than the limit. The Government is expected to publish a child poverty strategy in autumn, and a multitude of campaign groups have said it must contain a commitment to do away with the two-child limit. The IPPR argued that, in the face of covering the costs of scrapping the policy, it feels 'fair' to ask the 'highly profitable' gambling industry to contribute more. Echoing this, former prime minister Gordon Brown said: 'Thanks to IPPR's report, we now know that taxing gambling more fairly would fully fund the first crucial step in the war we must wage against child poverty: ending the two-child limit and lifting the benefit cap. 'There are many reasons why the highly profitable betting and gaming industry should pay a fairer share towards the cost of UK's unmet needs. Most important is that it would enable half a million children to be lifted out of poverty in this autumn's budget, and so help to build our country for the next generation.' The IPPR suggested increasing taxes on online casinos from 21% to 50% and raising those on slots and gaming machines from 20% to 50%. The organisation also proposed raising general betting duty on non-racing bets from 15% to 25% which it said would bring other sports in line with the rates paid by horseracing. The IPPR said raising gambling taxes in the way they suggested would be unlikely to reduce overall government revenue. Henry Parkes, principal economist and head of quantitative research at IPPR, said: 'The gambling industry is highly profitable, yet is exempt from paying VAT and often pays no corporation tax, with many online firms based offshore. It is also inescapable that gambling causes serious harm, especially in its most high-stakes forms. 'Set against a context of stark and rising levels of child poverty, it only feels fair to ask this industry to contribute a little more.' But a spokesperson for the Betting and Gaming Council said they rejected the 'economically reckless, factually misleading' proposals which they insisted 'risk driving huge numbers to the growing, unsafe, unregulated gambling black market, which doesn't protect consumers and contributes zero tax'. They added: 'Further tax rises, fresh off the back of Government reforms which cost the sector over a billion in lost revenue, would do more harm than good – for punters, jobs, growth and public finances.'
Daily Record
an hour ago
- Daily Record
Families of murder victims 'relieved' as Government backs parole ban for killers who hide bodies
Suzanne Pilley and Arlene Fraser's families met with Justice Secretary Angela Constance to press for an amendment to the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform Bill. The families of Suzanne Pilley and Arlene Fraser say they feel 'relieved' after the Scottish Government signalled support for changes to the parole system targeting killers who refuse to reveal where their victims are buried. Speaking in Glasgow on Wednesday following a meeting with Justice Secretary Angela Constance, the families issued a joint statement welcoming the move. They also urged the minister to push ahead with the reforms without delay. The meeting was requested by the families to discuss an amendment to the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform Bill currently going through the Scottish Parliament. The amendment would mean that when a convicted murderer r efuses to reveal the location of their victims remains, this 'must' be taken into account when considering parole. Under current legislation, the parole board rules dictate that this 'may' be taken into account. The changes have sometimes been referred to as 'Suzanne's Law' – named after Suzanne Pilley, who was murdered by her colleague David Gilroy in 2010. However, the Scottish Government has not used this term and says decisions on parole are for the independent parole board. Gail Fairgrieve, sister of Suzanne Pilley, and her mother Sylvia Pilley were joined by Carol Gillies – who is Arlene Fraser's sister – in Glasgow on Wednesday. Arlene Fraser vanished in 1998, with her husband Nat Fraser being convicted of her murder in 2012. The joint statement said: 'Today we met with Justice Secretary Angela Constance to seek assurances that this important amendment will go through in the Bill. 'We are relieved that she reaffirmed her support of the amendment and spoke of her commitment for the intent and substantive content of amendment 260 to remain unaltered. 'We'd like to thank her for meeting with us and discussing the impact that this change will have. 'We hope that this change in law will provide not only us, but with other families in our position, with a measure of comfort and confidence that they can get the justice that we all so badly deserve.' It continued: 'With the next stage due on return from summer recess, we urge ministers to ensure that this legislation is enacted as soon as possible – we have already been under unimaginable strain and pressure for so many years leading up to this moment.' The SNP minister said: 'I am grateful to the families of Suzanne Pilley and Arlene Fraser for meeting with me today. 'They have suffered heartbreaking losses, compounded by not knowing the final resting place of their loved ones. My deepest sympathies remain with them. 'In March, I supported an amendment to the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform Bill that will mean the Parole Board, when making decisions about release, must take account of whether a prisoner has information about the disposal of a victim's remains, but has not disclosed it. 'At today's meeting, I reiterated my firm commitment to this change, which will become law if the Bill is passed in Parliament.' Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
