Prison Service: Intrusive Surveillance (Hansard, 10 April 2001)

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton

The Secretary of State will authorise the use of intrusive surveillance carried out by Her Majesty's Prison Service under Part II of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) on application by persons holding an office, rank or position in Her Majesty's Prison Service itself. In practice, the governor in charge of the relevant prison will make the case for such an application to be made. This case will be submitted to a senior civil servant with operational experience within Prison Service Headquarters who will be a Gold Commander (in the case of a hostage situation) or, otherwise, an Area Manager or the Head of Security, one of whom will formally make the application to the Home Office. This process will be laid down in the Security Manual followed by Her Majesty's Prison Service. Within the Home Office, applications will be scrutinised by a dedicated warrants unit, headed up by a senior civil servant, charged with providing advice to the Secretary of State. A full audit trail will be available to the Chief Surveillance Commissioner, who has a statutory responsibility to oversee the use of intrusive surveillance by Her Majesty's Prison Service.

Intrusive surveillance may be used in private prisons, and will be regulated by Part II of RIPA. A senior civil servant with operational experience at 89WA Gold Commander, Area Manager or Head of Security level within Prison Service Headquarters will make an application to the Home Office in response to a case made by the director of the relevant prison. Authorisations will be given by the Secretary of State. Private prisons are contractually obliged to follow the procedures set out in the Prison Service Security Manual, which will set out how the application process will operate.