Minister of Religion and an individual relating to the latter’s health or
spiritual welfare; or where communications between a Member of
Parliament and another person on constituency business may be
involved.
4.3. Confidential journalistic material includes material acquired or
created for the purposes of journalism and held subject to an
undertaking to hold it in confidence, as well as communications
resulting in information being acquired for the purposes of
journalism and held subject to such an undertaking. See also
paragraphs 4.26 and 4.28 – 4.31 for additional safeguards that should
be applied in respect of confidential journalistic material.
4.4. The Prime Minister must be consulted in any case where it is
necessary to target the communications of a Member of Parliament,
apart from those approved by Scottish Ministers, or where it is
intended to select for examination an MP’s communications
intercepted under a section 8(4) warrant.
Communications subject to legal privilege
Introduction
4.5. Section 98 of the Police Act 1997 describes those matters that
are subject to legal privilege in England and Wales. In Scotland, those
matters subject to legal privilege contained in section 412 of the
Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 should be adopted. With regard to
Northern Ireland, Article 12 of the Police and Criminal Evidence
(Northern Ireland) Order 1989 should be referred to.
4.6. Legal privilege does not apply to communications made with the
intention of furthering a criminal purpose (whether the lawyer is
acting unwittingly or culpably). Legally privileged communications
will lose their protection if, for example, the professional legal adviser
is intending to hold or use the information for a criminal purpose. But
privilege is not lost if a professional legal adviser is properly advising a
person who is suspected of having committed a criminal offence. The
concept of legal privilege applies to the provision of professional legal
advice by any individual, agency or organisation qualified to do so.
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