§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many warrants have been issued for each year under sections 5 and 6 of the Intelligence Services Act 1994 since its inception; and of those how many were authorised by the Secretary of State and how many by civil servants. [13782]
§ Mr. StrawFor reasons of national security, information on the number of warrants issued under sections 5 and 6 of the Intelligence Services Act 1994 is not published.
Civil Servants do not authorise the issue of warrants. However, under the emergency procedure provided at section 6(1)(b) of the Intelligence Services Act 1994, a warrant may be issued under the hand of an official of or above the rank of Assistant Under Secretary of State provided that the Secretary of State has expressly authorised its issue (typically by telephone), and a statement of that fact is endorsed on the warrant.
Any such emergency warrant must be renewed within 2 days under the hand of the Secretary of State.