3.4 I have a responsibility to oversee the use which public authorities have
made of their powers under the Act and how they have exercised their rights and
responsibilities. I am supported by a Chief Inspector and five Inspectors who are all
highly trained in the acquisition and disclosure processes and the extent to which
communications data may assist public authorities in carrying out their functions.
A programme of inspections is drawn up with the assistance of members of my
Secretariat and the Inspectors initially engage with the Senior Responsible Officer
from the public authority concerned. For example, in a police force this must be at
least a Superintendent or a Head of Service in a local authority.
3.5 Within every public authority each SRO must be responsible for:
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the integrity of the process to acquire communications data;
compliance with the Code of Practice;
oversight of the reporting of errors to me, identifying their causes and taking
appropriate action to minimise the repetition of errors;
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engagement with my Inspectors and ensuring that all relevant records are
produced for the inspection;
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oversight of the implementation of post-inspection Action Plans, approved
by me.
3.6 Following each inspection a detailed report is prepared by the Inspector
and this will outline inter alia what level of compliance has been achieved with
the Code of Practice. Where necessary the Inspector will produce a schedule
of recommendations or an Action Plan which will address all areas that require
remedial action. I have sight of all of those inspection reports in order that can
I properly discharge my oversight functions. The top copy of the report is sent
to the head of the public authority concerned, e.g., the Chief Constable or the
Chief Executive in the case of a local authority and they are required to confirm,
within a prescribed time period, whether the findings are accepted and that the
recommendations or action points will be implemented.
3.7 I believe that it is in the public interest that public authorities should
demonstrate that they make lawful and effective use of regulated investigatory
powers. My annual report should provide the necessary reassurance that the use
which public authorities have made of their powers has met my expectations and
those of my Inspectors, although there is no reason why a public authority cannot
disclose all or part of the report which my Inspectors have prepared in relation to
that authority if they so wish (whether as a result of a request made to the authority
under the Freedom of Information Act or otherwise). There is provision for this in
the Code of Practice, although each public authority must seek my prior approval
before making any disclosure.
3.8 During the year ended 31 December 2008, public authorities as a whole made
504,073 requests for communications data to CSPs and Internet Service Providers
(ISP). This figure is slightly below the number of requests which were made in the
previous year. I do not intend to give a breakdown of these requests because I do not
think that it would serve any useful purpose, although the intelligence agencies, police
forces and other law enforcement agencies are the principal users of communications
data. Later in my report I will give some indication of the extent to which local
authorities use communications data as I believe that this should be placed in context.
Any suggestion that a low ranking council employee may have unrestricted access to
the telephone records of a member of the public is far removed from reality because a
process has to be gone through first which requires the necessity and proportionality
tests to be met before the necessary approval is given by a senior official.
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