§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how long, on average, he has taken to scrutinise each warrant issued under the Interception of Communications Act 1985. [110041]
§ Mr. StrawI consider very carefully each application for a warrant submitted to me under the Interception of Communications Act 1985. The average time taken for this scrutiny, depends on the complexity of the application. An average would not be meaningful. The Interception of Communications Commissioner, currently Lord Nolan, stated in his annual report for 1998 that he had found no case where I had issued or renewed a warrant without adequate justification.