law enforcement agencies have responded positively to the inspections and they
understand that they are an essential part of my oversight responsibilities. Police
forces and law enforcement agencies are now well accustomed to dealing with the
legislation and the results from this year’s inspections are very heartening. There
is clear evidence from the inspections that the SROs and the vast majority of their
staff are committed to providing the best possible level of service and achieving
good adherence to the Act and Code of Practice.
Intelligence Agencies
3.35 The intelligence agencies are subject to the same type of inspection
methodology and scrutiny as police forces and law enforcement agencies. For the
most part the work of the intelligence agencies is highly sensitive and secret, and
this limits what I can say about their inspections.
3.36 During the reporting year the Security Service, Secret Intelligence Service
and Government Communications Headquarters were all inspected by my
Chief Inspector and one of the Inspectors. They all emerged very well from the
inspections and the inspection team concluded that they are achieving a good level
of compliance with the Act and Code of Practice. Of all the intelligence agencies
the Security Service is the largest user of communications data and it has a fully
automated system to manage its requirements.
3.37 Communications data is used extensively by the intelligence agencies,
primarily to build up the intelligence picture about persons or groups of persons,
who pose a real threat to our national security. Given the nature of their work it is
unavoidable that there will be some degree of collateral intrusion into the private
lives of persons who have had contact with the subjects of their investigations.
However, this is recognised by the intelligence agencies from the outset and the
inspections have shown that it is being managed to the best of their ability. The
error rate of all the intelligence agencies is very low in comparison with the
number of requests which are processed for communications data.
Local Authorities
3.38 There are approximately 433 local authorities throughout the UK approved by
Parliament for the purpose of acquiring communications data, using the provisions
of the Act. No local authority has been given the power to intercept a telephone
call or any other form of communication during the course of its transmission.
However, local authorities may acquire communications data for the purpose of
preventing and detecting crime, although there are restrictions upon the types
of data which they may obtain. They do not have access to traffic data, which
would enable them to identify the location from, or to which, a communication
has been transmitted.
3.39 Generally the trading standards services are the principal users of
communications data within local authorities although the environmental health
departments and housing benefit fraud investigators also occasionally make use
of the powers. Local authorities enforce numerous statutes and Councils use
communications data to identify criminals who persistently rip off consumers,
cheat the taxpayer, deal in counterfeit goods, and prey on the elderly and vulnerable.
The environmental health departments principally use communications data to
identify fly-tippers whose activities cause damage to the environment and cost the
taxpayers large sums to recover or otherwise deal with the waste.
3.40 Local authorities are required to adhere to the Code of Practice and requests
for communications data are approved at a senior level, the level having been
enhanced by recent changes to the legislation. In most cases this has been the head
of the trading standards service or the head of the environmental health department
or housing benefits sections although solicitors have also often been involved.
The specialist staff who process applications for communications data are not
trained to the same standard as their counterparts in other public authorities, and
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