Statistics
2.29 Warrants (a) in force, under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act,
as at 31 December 2009 and (b) issued during the period 1 January 2009 to
31 December 2009
Home Secretary
a
959 [844]*
b
1514 [1508]*
69 [43]*
192 [204]*
The total number of RIPA modifications from
01/01/2009 – 31/12/2009 = 5267 [5344]*
Scottish Government
The total number of RIPA modifications from
01/01/2009 – 31/12/2009 = 629 [610]*
* For comparison purposes I have included in the parentheses warrant information
for the period 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2008 as detailed in my 2008 Annual
Report.
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 are the applicant, the Designated Person able to authorise applications,
the Single Point of Contact (SPoC) and the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO).
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 Communications Service Providers (CSP) 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 data being disclosed.
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