CHAPTER 9: LAW ENFORCEMENT
to the local Magistrates’ or Sheriffs’ Court and back again;
from the local authority to NAFN once again; and
from NAFN to the service provider.
To make matters worse, whilst local authorities and NAFN communicate
electronically, anything involving the court needs to be produced and
transmitted on paper.
(b)
It was said typically to take one to two weeks to get an appointment at the
magistrates’ court, and I was told of a six week delay in one case.
(c)
A local authority employee may then have to spend a morning travelling to the
Magistrates’ Court, waiting for the case to come on, having the application
approved and then returning to the office. I was told that yet further expense is
incurred in Scotland, where a £90 court fee is payable and the case must be
presented to the Sheriff by a lawyer.
(d)
The expenditure of time and resources is said to be disproportionate to the very
basic nature of most requests, particularly given that the magistrates hearing
the case have no specialist knowledge and that nearly all requests are granted.
NAFN told me in March 2015 that magistrates had refused only six applications
since November 2012, amounting to 19 data requests, out of some 6000
requests considered by them.66
9.100. At the same time the number of applications from local authorities has reduced
significantly. In a typical month in 2014 there were fewer than 150 requests, as
against 200-400 in the months prior to November 2012: see Annex 14 to this Report.
I am informed that this sudden fall in numbers, which shows no sign of being reversed,
reflects of the burden on local authority investigators (particularly in time) imposed by
the need to approach magistrates. That would be no bad thing if local authorities were
able to do just as well with OSINT, or by consulting the Home Office’s “consented”
database of phone numbers. But I do not consider this to be the principal cause.
Having spoken to a number of local authority trading standards experts, my
impression is that communications data is not uniformly used as much as it could
usefully be, and that the cost and delay inherent in obtaining the permission of a
magistrate functions as a deterrent to applications that could properly and fruitfully be
made.
Oversight
9.101. IOCCO was universally respected as a rigorous oversight body which was also
beneficial in improving practices. Thus:
(a)
66
The MPS CIU saw IOCCO as constructively critical in its approach, and would
from time to time take the opportunity to ask the Commissioner’s opinion about
Evidence to the Review from NAFN, 31 March 2015.
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