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Investigatory Powers Commissioner ’s Annual Report 2019
7. Inspection methodology
Overview
7.1
We have continued to develop our model for oversight, which was outlined in full in our
2018 report. It is important that our inspection model is sufficiently flexible to enable us
to respond to priority issues, such as the safeguards compliance mitigation work at MI5.
We also seek to draw together a best-fit team to take an objective view of each of the
authorities we oversee, delivering this through a joint inspection model for larger law
enforcement authorities. This chapter summarises where we have changed our approach in
2019 and the chapters that follow detail the findings from those inspections.
7.2
We continue to work with three teams of Inspectors each managed by a Chief Inspector:
one team covers targeted equipment interference (TEI), property interference, surveillance
and covert human intelligence sources (CHIS), the second team examines the use of
communications data (CD), and the third team inspects the intelligence agencies, Ministry
of Defence and the other intercepting agencies.18 At the end of the year, we recruited a
fourth Chief Inspector to lead the data assurance programme described below and we are
in the process of recruiting specialist Inspectors to join this team.
18 Intelligence agencies: GCHQ, MI5 and SIS (MI6), the other Intercepting Agencies: HMRC, PSNI, Police
Scotland, NCA, and MPS.