IPCO Annual Report 2018
team. Our combined reports to a Chief Constable give a sense of the health of the whole
organisation and action can then be taken by the authority as a whole.
5.10
Another significant development has been for Judicial Commissioners (JCs) to join
inspections. This has a dual benefit: first, it enhances the JCs’ awareness of the context
of operations, which is frequently relevant to their consideration of applications; and,
secondly, it gives the JCs an opportunity to challenge aspects of policy and methodology at
individual authorities. We have continued this practice through 2019.
Oversight of the UK Intelligence Community (UKIC)
5.11
The creation of IPCO enabled a wholesale reconsideration of the oversight model for
the UK’s Intelligence Community (UKIC). Our objectives have been to establish more
challenging and comprehensive oversight than previous Commissioners were able to
achieve with the limited resources available to them. We now encourage the agencies
to demonstrate their methodology and rationale for the work they undertake to our
Inspectors, who are then able to investigate in detail and understand how internal oversight
works. This model has broadened the scope of IPCO’s inspections to cover matters of policy
and practice relevant to the application of covert powers. Through frequent inspections,
briefings and audits we speak to more staff at the agencies than had previously been
possible. It is worth noting that this would have been impossible without the support, and
resources, provided by the agencies in response to this change. The level of assistance with
which we have been provided has been, without exception, exemplary.
5.12
In real terms, this means we meet members of each agency, in one guise or another, on
a monthly, and at times weekly, basis. We are still exploring ways of working with UKIC to
maximise our oversight without unnecessarily impeding operations. In some instances,
we conduct inspections in which several powers are considered together: for example,
inspecting property interference and surveillance jointly provides a valuable opportunity
to scrutinise how different covert powers are used on operations. This has enabled IPCO to
consider whether the relevant powers are used rationally, in a way that is proportionate, to
validate operational requirements. In other instances, for example with the Consolidated
Guidance, we have inspected the three intelligence agencies at the same time. This
has afforded real insight as to how the agencies work together in order to minimise
risks and has resulted in a high level of confidence in their collaborative approach. This
approach has enabled IPCO to identify and resolve previously undetected issues, such as
different approaches taken by different agencies to caveats on intelligence sharing with
foreign services.
5.13
The balancing act for IPCO is, therefore, to design an inspection programme which allows
sufficient scope to follow the threads of our investigations across UKIC without losing the
detail and focus of bespoke, single-agency inspections.
Oversight of bulk powers
5.14
An important area of our oversight of UKIC is the use of bulk powers. Although the IPA
introduces specific powers to conduct bulk operations, the capability to do so is not new.
These powers continue to be controversial because of public fears about indiscriminate
collection and, as a consequence, oversight of the implementation of the relevant
safeguards and the way in which material is collected and selected for examination is a
priority for our Inspectors. We are confident that the majority of the data gathered by way
of bulk collection is not reviewed by analysts, although it will be automatically screened
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