My Lords, this has been a very useful and important short debate on an issue of great sensitivity. I am grateful to all noble Lords who have taken part, and am particularly grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, who was able to give us the view from the CCRC. Its work, as we know, is extremely important, and we all want to do what we can to ensure that that continues. We must place great weight on the view that he gave us. I also thank my noble friend the Minister and welcome the Government’s commitment, which she restated, to the protection of sources. I particularly welcome the assurance that there will be prior notice to the holder of the material at an inter partes hearing, should the case arise. In an ideal world, I would obviously prefer that this was in primary legislation rather than in Criminal Procedure Rules—rules can be changed, whereas legislation cannot be without further scrutiny. None the less, this is a very important safeguard.
The Minister referred to the PACE schedule provisions and suggested that the amendment goes a little further than that. It was my intention to reflect the sentiment of those provisions rather than replicate them in an amendment. I would obviously be delighted if the Minister was to be persuaded to incorporate PACE provisions in the Bill or, more likely, recommend that their equivalent be enshrined in the Criminal Procedure Rules to achieve the balance that she quite rightly mentioned between freedom of speech and correcting miscarriages of justice. I am sure that media organisations would be very happy to discuss that in more detail with the Government or the Criminal Procedure Rules Committee. If she would find that helpful, perhaps the Minister could drop me a note about it.
On that positive and collaborative note, and with thanks for what was genuinely reassuring balm, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.