Member

Since the consultation closed, officials have been engaging across government and with public bodies to test options for reform of the admissibility of computer evidence. My noble friend Lady Chakrabarti and I have had a number of conversations about this: we agree on what the problem is, and we agree the solution is much harder to find. She has now tabled a new amendment in narrowed form, but the Government are concerned that a statutory solution such as the one she proposes, in a fast-moving and highly technical area of law, will have unintended consequences across the justice system, with victims bearing the cost. If we get this wrong and the provision is enshrined in primary legislation, it is very hard to put it right, as we would have to find other primary legislation where this would be in scope to allow us to amend or even repeal. Even the noble Baroness’s new amendment would still capture routine material such as body-worn video or a single downloaded phone message. This underlines the need to proceed carefully on the basis of evidence.