agencies with any indication of the targets because as Lord Lloyd said in his first
Report published in 1987 “the total includes not only warrants issued in the
interest of national security, but also for the prevention and detection of serious
crime.” These figures are, therefore, set out in the Annex to this Report.
However, I believe that the views expressed in Lord Birkett’s Report still apply
to the publication of the number of warrants issued by the Foreign Secretary
and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. I also agree with the view of my
predecessor, Lord Nolan, that the disclosure of this information would be
prejudicial to the public interest. I have, therefore, included them in the
Confidential Annex to this Report.
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal
33. The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (the Tribunal) was established by
section 65 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. The Tribunal
came into being on 2 October 2000 and from that date assumed responsibility
for the jurisdiction previously held by the Interception of Communications
Tribunal, the Security Service Tribunal and the Intelligence Services Tribunal
and the complaints function of the Commissioner appointed under the Police
Act 1997 as well as claims under the Human Rights Act. The President of the
Tribunal is Lord Justice Mummery with Mr. Justice Burton acting as VicePresident. In addition, seven senior members of the legal profession serve on
the Tribunal. A Registrar has also been appointed to help in the process of
hearing claims alleging infringements of the Human Rights Act.
34. As I explained in paragraph 25 of my first Annual Report in 2000,
complaints to the Tribunal cannot easily be “categorised” under the three
Tribunal system that existed prior to RIPA. Consequently, I am unable to
detail those complaints that relate solely to the interception of
communications. I can only provide the information on the total number of
complaints made to the Tribunal. The Tribunal received 130 new applications
during 2002 and completed its investigation of 67 of these during the year as
well as concluding its investigation of 27 of the 31 cases carried over from 2001.
67 cases have been carried forward to 2003. On no occasion has the Tribunal
concluded that there has been a contravention of RIPA or the Human Rights
Act 1998.
Assistance to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal
35. Section 57(3) of RIPA requires me to give all such assistance to the
Tribunal as the Tribunal may require in relation to investigations and other
specified matters. I was not asked to assist the Tribunal during the year 2002.
Errors
36. A significant number of errors and breaches have been reported to me
during the course of the year—39 in all. Although slightly lower than the total
for 2001, the number is still unacceptably high. By way of example, details of
some of these errors and breaches are recorded below. It is very important from
the point of view of the public that I stress that none of the breaches or errors
were deliberate, that all were caused by human or procedural error or by
technical problems and that in every case either no interception took place or, if
there was interception, the product was destroyed immediately on discovery of
the error. The most common cause of error tends to be the simple transposition
of numbers by mistake e.g., 1809 instead of 1890. The examples that I give are
typical of the totality and are anonymous. Full details of the errors and breaches
are set out in the Confidential Annex.
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