IPCO Annual Report 2018
• A post-notification framework: it was argued that a post-notification process for
individuals who had been mistreated following a failure to apply any new guidance or
principles would assist them in seeking redress. This, however, would require statutory
change and was, therefore, beyond the remit of the IPC’s review. That said, the Principles
place a duty on public authorities who become aware of abuses to notify the IPC as soon
as possible. This will ensure early oversight by IPCO of the alleged conduct.
2.26
The Principles will take effect from 1 January 2020. IPCO and the relevant authorities,
particularly the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism
Command (also known as SO157), are jointly analysing the implications for the future
inspection regime and will provide a full report on the first year of operation in IPCO’s 2020
Annual Report.
Juvenile Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS)
2.27
A juvenile CHIS (covert human intelligence source) is an individual engaged in CHIS activity
who is aged below 18 years. Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA),
the use of juveniles as CHIS is governed by statute. Until August 2018, use of a juvenile CHIS
could only be authorised for a month at a time. The CHIS Code of Practice (COP) has now
been updated and the authorisation period has been extended to four months, with the
requirement that such cases are reviewed on at least a monthly basis.8 These changes came
into force on 15 August 2018.
2.28
During the course of Parliamentary debate on change to the Code, concerns were raised
about juveniles being used as CHIS in any circumstances. Although anecdotal evidence
suggested that this happened only on very rare occasions, there was an absence of actual
statistics to support this. The IPC, therefore, ordered an immediate review of all public
authorities within the UK which had the statutory power to use CHIS, to ensure we had a
comprehensive record of how often these powers were deployed in relation to juveniles.
The conclusions of this review, following a careful accuracy check, were reported in March
2019 in a letter to the Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP, the Chair of the Joint Committee on
Human Rights. This letter is available on the IPCO website.9
2.29
In conducting this review, we sought information covering the period between January
2015 and the end of 2018. The majority of public authorities declared no recorded use
of these powers with respect to young people between these dates. The returns showed
that only 17 juvenile CHIS authorisations had been approved across 11 public authorities
during the entirety of this four-year period; of these, one was 15 years old at the time of
authorisation while the others were 16 or 17 years of age.
2.30
These results supported the evidence from inspections and other sources that
these authorisations are only ever granted in exceptional circumstances. It would be
inappropriate to provide further detail about the deployment of particular individuals
in this context or to discuss the types of criminality about which they had been asked to
report; to do so, with such small numbers, heightens the risk of particular juveniles falling
under suspicion or revealing tactics which should not be disclosed. However, there are a
few important points which can properly be noted:
7
8
9
Metropolitan Police Service Counter Terrorism Command (SO15)
Under RIP(S)A the authorisation period remains one month for juveniles
https://www.ipco.org.uk/docs/IPCO’s%20letter%20to%20Harriet%20Harman%20MP%20(24-08-18).PDF
15