42
IPCO Annual Report 2017
Statistics of use of powers
Total Numbers
7.13
The figure below shows the number of new interception warrants issued in each of the years
2015–2017 for the nine interception agencies. There were a total of 3535 warrants issued
during 2017, an increase of just over 17.5% compared with 2016.
Fig. 6 Number of new interception warrants issued
2014
2015
2016
2017
0
500
1,000
1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000
7.14
On 31 December 2017 there were 1,974 warrants in force, a 23.2% increase on the number
extant at the end of 2016. 21 of these warrants were issued under the bulk provisions. A
proportion were first authorised before the start of 2017 but it remains the case that most
interception warrants do not run for longer than six months.
7.15
Only a small number of interception warrants are rejected because there is an exceptionally
high level of scrutiny of each application as it goes through the stages of the authorisation
process, before it is sent to a Secretary of State (under the IPA, these warrants, once
authorised by the Secretary of State, will then be sent to a Judicial Commissioner to be
reviewed). A number of appropriately qualified individuals review each application within
the interception agency, and applications must be supported at a senior level before beng
submitted to the relevant warrant granting department (WGD). The WGD then scrutinises
the warrant in detail before it is submitted to a Secretary of State.
7.16
During 2017 there were 116 occasions when a senior official or Secretary of State sought
clarification or additional information from the applicant before authorising.
By statutory purpose
7.17
Figure 7 details the breakdown by way of the different statutory purposes of the
3,535 interception warrants issued in 2017.
Fig. 7 Proportion of 2017 warrants by statutory purpose
0.22
0.05
34.5
%
65.22
Na onal security –
1,219 warrants (34.5%)
Serious crime –
2,306 warrants (65.22%)
Economic well-being –
8 warrants (0.22%)
Combined –
2 warrants (0.05%)