MR JUSTICE BURTON
Approved Judgment
Caroline Lucas MP & Ors v Security Service & Ors
15. In the event that a warrant is issued pursuant to the authorisation
procedure described in paragraphs 12-14 above, in relation to any intelligence
acquired pursuant to such a warrant (or, in the case of a warrant under
section 8(4) of RIPA, in relation to any material selected for examination in
the way described in paragraph 10 above), legal adviser advice must be
sought in terms of retention and subsequent internal handling. Material that is
not of intelligence interest must be deleted. Any intelligence that is retained
must be caveated to provide a warning that it relates to a Parliamentarian,
informing subsequent internal recipients that a legal adviser should be
consulted before any disclosure of the intelligence takes place.
16. In addition, in the event that it is proposed to disclose any such
intelligence (or, in the case of a section 8(4) warrant, any such selected
material) to an outside body, this is only permitted if such disclosure is both
necessary and proportionate for the purposes of section 2(2)(a) of the Security
Service Act 1989. Before any such disclosure is undertaken, advice must first
be requested from a legal adviser, head of warrantry and a senior policy
officer, who will consult further as appropriate, and authorisation obtained
from the deputy director general, who will consider whether clearance should
be sought from Ministers. All such disclosure authorisations must be recorded
on the Central Record.
Oversight
17. Any warrant within the scope of paragraphs 4, 5 and 8 above of which a
Parliamentarian is the subject, or the sole or primary purpose of which is to
acquire intelligence about a Parliamentarian (or, in the case of a warrant
under section 8(4) of RIPA, where there is a deliberate intention to select the
communications of a Parliamentarian) will explicitly be brought to the
attention of the Interception or Intelligence Services Commissioner (as
appropriate) on their next inspection. Any material that is still being retained
should be made available to him or her if requested, including detail of
whether that material has been disclosed.”
ii)
SIS: 26 February 2015
“8. Requests for communications data do not fall within the scope of the
Wilson Doctrine. However, serious consideration would be required before
submitting a request to acquire communications data relating to a
Parliamentarian and the policy team and the Legal Advisors must be
consulted.
...
11. In rare cases where direct communications between a target and a MP (or
member of the House of Lords) appear to include significant operational
intelligence on the opinions or activities of the target himself (not the MP)
authorisation to report the intelligence must be sought from the policy team
and the Legal Advisors who will consult further as appropriate and consider
whether political clearance should be sought. If authorisation is given for a
report or reports to be issued, these should wherever possible provide the