HC Deb 03 November 1997 vol 300 cc26-7W
Mr. Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many warrants have been issued for each year under section 2 of the Interception of Communications Act 1985 since its inception to(a) police and (b) the security services; and of those how many were authorised by the Secretary of State and how many by civil servants. [13783]

Mr. Straw

The following information is obtained from the Annual Reports of the Interception Commissioner. The Government support the policy, adopted by successive Commissioners, of not publishing a further breakdown of the figures, and of excluding numbers of warrants issued by the Foreign Secretary and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, because it would be prejudicial to national security to do so.

It is only the Secretary of State who may authorise the issue of a warrant. Civil servants do not authorise the issue of interception warrants. However, under the emergency procedure provided at section 4(1)(b) of the Interception of Communications Act 1985, 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 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.

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