Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner - July 2016
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NCA and all UK police forces;
the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS);
the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI);
the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland;
the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC);
the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Ministry of Defence (MOD).
6.7
Secretaries of state. Interception warrants have to be authorised by a secretary
of state (sections 5(1) and 7(1)(a) of RIPA). He or she has to sign the warrant personally, or
in an urgent case may authorise the issue of a warrant signed by a senior official (section
7(1)(b) of RIPA).
6.8
In practice four secretaries of state and one Scottish minister consider most of the
interception warrants. They are:
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the Defence Secretary;
the Foreign Secretary;
the Home Secretary;
the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland; and
the Cabinet Secretary for Justice for Scotland.30
6.9
Each secretary of state has senior officials and staff in their warrant issuing
department. Their functions include scrutinising warrant applications for their form,
content and sufficiency, and presenting them to the secretary of state with appropriate
recommendations.
6.10 Statutory necessity purposes. The secretary of state may not issue an interception
warrant unless he or she believes that it is necessary:
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in the interests of national security;
for the purpose of preventing or detecting serious crime;31
for the purpose [in circumstances appearing to the secretary of state to be
relevant to the interests of national security]32 of safeguarding the economic
well-being of the United Kingdom; or
for the purpose in circumstances equivalent to those in which the secretary
of state would issue a serious crime warrant of implementing an international
mutual assistance agreement (section 5(3)).
30 Interception warrants to prevent or detect serious crime may be authorised by Scottish Ministers, under
the Scotland Act 1998. In this report references to “secretary of state” should be read as including
Scottish Ministers where appropriate. The functions of the Scottish Ministers also cover renewal and
cancellation arrangements.
31 Section 81(3) of the Act defines “serious crime” as a crime for which an adult first-time offender could
reasonably expect a sentence of three years’ custody or more, or which involves the use of violence,
substantial financial gain or conduct by a large number of persons in pursuit of a common purpose.
32 As amended by Section 3 of the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA) 2014.
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