Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner - 2016
SPoC Efficiency and Effectiveness (27)
The Code of Practice places responsibility on the SPoC to act as guardian and gatekeeper
of the acquisition and disclosure process. Many of the recommendations in this category
result from: failures adequately to advise applicants and DPs; unnecessarily returning
applications which could legitimately be refined and progressed by the SPoC; and failures
to identify key matters such as statutory purposes.
Designated Person’s Independence (24)
Paragraph 3.12 of the Code of Practice states that DPs must be independent of
operations and investigations when granting authorisations or giving notices related to
those operations. Advice around DP independence changed in the March 2015 Code
of Practice. As a consequence, 34 DP-independence-related recommendations were
made in 2015. During the 2016 inspection programme, it was apparent that most public
authorities have addressed the issue of DP independence, and so errors have reduced by
almost a third.
Structural and procedural changes have been introduced across many authorities to
ensure that DPs do not have line management responsibility for applicants or that their
geographical and functional commands have no connection with the investigations or
operations that are supported by the applications. The 24 recommendations, however,
illustrate that some public authorities still need to fully implement this.
Designated Person’s Considerations (18)
This category of recommendation focuses on the content of the DP’s recorded
considerations. Each application should receive bespoke consideration based on the
unique elements of the crime or event under investigation. These recommendations
address those DPs who make little reference to the specifics of the application in hand,
using generic language.
Sensitive Professions (18)
The revised 2015 Code of Practice requires UK law enforcement agencies to seek judicial
authorisation when applying for communications data to identify or to determine
journalistic sources. Following some previous cases of poor compliance in this area,
inspectors have issued recommendations to public authorities who have failed to
address the relevance of the sensitive profession or where there might be unintended
consequences of applying for such data.
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