AUSTRALIA has assured the British Government the Haneef inquiry will only examine authorities' treatment of the Indian doctor and not security matters, a Senate committee has heard.

Dr Mohammed Haneef, who was working on the Gold Coast, was arrested last year following terror attacks in Britain, on the basis of purported evidence linking him to one of the attackers.

The case collapsed when prosecutors admitted there was insufficient evidence to proceed, but Dr Haneef was kept in immigration detention on the orders of the Howard government.

Attorney-General's Department secretary Robert Cornall said he and Attorney-General Robert McClelland visited London in April and met a number of British officials, including some from the Crown Prosecution Service. They did not meet officials from the security service, Mr Cornall said.

"Their interest in these issues arose from being certain that nothing we were going to do in what was basically a public inquiry in Australia was going to intrude into matters that are being investigated and prosecuted in England," he told a Senate estimates committee.

Mr Cornall said Mr McClelland had assured the British officials the inquiry would not venture into areas that were of concern to them.

"It was to assure them that the focus of the inquiry in Australia was in relation to the treatment of Dr Haneef."

Under the inquiry terms of reference, John Clarke, QC, will investigate Dr Haneef's arrest, detention, charging, prosecution and release, the cancellation of his Australian visa and the issuing of a criminal justice stay certificate. Launching his inquiry last month, Mr Clarke said he had to observe certain restrictions on disclosing some material related to security and ongoing court cases.

"These considerations will not confine the scope of the investigations," he said.

Shadow attorney-general George Brandis asked how Mr McClelland could bind the inquiry in this manner.

Mr Cornall said: "The British authorities were concerned that none of the information that they had given to Australia (about the London and Glasgow attacks) would be involved, that we would have regard to the sensitivity of that information in relation to the Clarke inquiry."

AAP