§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many warrants under the Interception of Communications Act 1985 were(a) in force on 31 December 1998 and (b) issued during the course of 1998 for (i) the interception of telecommunications, (ii) the interception of letters and (iii) in total. [77276]
§ Mr. StrawThe Commissioner appointed under the Interception of Communications Act 1985 publishes figures on the number of interception warrants issued by the home Secretary in his annual reports. In his report for 1998, (which will shortly be presented to the Prime Minister) the Commissioner will record the following numbers.
826W827W
Numbers of interception warrants issued by the Home Secretary: 1998 Number Interception warrants in force on 31 December 1998: Telecommunications 385 Letters 48 Total 433 Interception warrants issued during the course of 1998: Telecommunications 1,646 Letters 117 Total 1,763
§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for warrants under the Interception of Communications Act 1985 were refused in each of the last five years. [77278]
§ Mr. StrawThe information requested is not available. Each application for interception of communications is subject to careful scrutiny at a number of stages before a warrant is issued. The application is submitted by a very senior officer following scrutiny within the Agency concerned. Within my Department, it will normally be examined by officials at four successive levels of seniority before being presented to me for approval. I examine each application carefully before issuing the warrant.
At any stage in this process the case may be, and on occasion is, referred back to the applicant agency for clarification or further detail. This may, and occasionally does, result in a decision that the application should be withdrawn or that a warrant should not be issued. Records are not kept in a form which would enable the information requested to be extracted without disproportionate cost. But given the very careful scrutiny which I have described, it is seldom necessary for the Home Secretary to refuse to issue a warrant.