HC Deb 08 July 1992 vol 211 cc196-7W
Mrs. Mahon

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the organisations authorised to carry out telephone interception since 1986.

Mr. Kenneth Clarke

Warrants authorising the interception of communications may be issued following application by the police, HM Customs and Excise and the security and intelligence agencies.

Mrs. Mahon

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many claims of unauthorised interception of telephones were investigated since 1985; and how many have been prosecuted.

Mr. Kenneth Clarke

Information held centrally shows that there were four prosecutions under section 1 of the Interception of Communications Act 1985 in England and Wales in 1988 and one in 1990. There are no centrally held records of the number of investigations.

Mrs. Mahon

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will propose amendments to the Interception of Communications Act 1985 to make explicit that it is illegal to monitor or eavesdrop on domestic and industrial telecommunications unless a warrant is authorised, notwithstanding that a physical tap has not been put on the line.

Mr. Kenneth Clarke

Under the Interception of Communications Act 1985 the intentional interception of communications in the course of transmission by means of a public telecommunications system is an offence unless carried out under the authority of a warrant issued by the Secretary of State or there are reasonable grounds for believing that one of the parties to the communication has consented to the interception. I have no proposals to amend the Act.