Statistics
2.33 Warrants (a) in force, under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act,
as at 31 December 2008 and (b) issued during the period 1 January 2008 to
31 December 2008
Home Secretary
a
844 [929]*
b
1508 [1881]*
43 [28]*
204 [145]*
The total number of RIPA modifications from
01/01/2008 – 31/12/2008 = 5344 [5577]*
Scottish Executive
The total number of RIPA modifications from
01/01/2008 – 31/12/2008 = 610 [367]*
* For comparison purposes I have included in the parentheses warrant information
for the period 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2007 as detailed in my 2007 Annual
Report
[NB: Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 there is no longer a
breakdown of the figures between Telecommunications and Letters.]
Section 3: Part I Chapter II – Acquisition And
Disclosure Of Communications Data
General
3.1 The term ‘communications data’ embraces the ‘who’, ‘when’ and ‘where’
of a communication but not the content, not what was said or what was written.
Certain public authorities are approved by Parliament to acquire communications
data to assist them in carrying out their investigatory or intelligence function and
they include the intelligence agencies, police forces, Her Majesty’s Revenue and
Customs, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and other enforcement agencies,
such as the Serious Fraud Office and Information Commissioner’s Office. Local
authorities, including the Trading Standards Service, are also able to acquire a
restricted set of communications data to assist them to investigate complaints
made by the public.
3.2 The Act and its Code of Practice contain explicit human rights safeguardsparticularly the rights of individuals to have respect for their private life and
correspondence. The safeguards include restrictions prescribed by Parliament
on the statutory purposes for which public authorities may obtain data; on the
type of data public authorities may obtain; which senior officials within public
authorities may exercise the power to obtain data; and which individuals within
public authorities undertake the work to obtain data.
3.3 All public authorities, permitted to obtain communications data using the
provisions of RIPA, are required to adhere to the Code of Practice when exercising
their powers and duties under the Act. Generally the acquisition of communications
data under the Act involves four roles within a public authority and these include the
applicant, Designated Person able to authorise applications, Single Point of Contact
(SPoC) and the Senior Responsible Officer. SPoCs are responsible for the development
and processing of applications for communications data. They have key responsibilities
under the Code of Practice and they also have a duty to ensure that the public authority
acts in a lawful and informed manner. Additionally, Designated Persons must be able
to act objectively and independently when approving applications for communications
data and have a current working knowledge of human rights principles, specifically
those of necessity and proportionality. Adherence to the Code of Practice by public
authorities and CSPs is essential if the rights of individuals are to be respected and
all public authorities have a requirement to report any errors which result in intrusion
upon the privacy of an innocent third party.
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