§ Brian WhiteTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what statutory investigatory powers the Department has; which ones will be superseded by use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000; and what plans she has for removing these legacy powers.[136126]
§ Alun MichaelThere is no equivalent of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 codifying the investigatory powers of Defra investigators. There is a patchwork of powers. In relation to a range of offences Defra investigators (and inspectors) have fairly standard statutory powers to enter and inspect business premises, powers to inspect and copy business documents and powers to require provision of information in relation to the conduct of the business —all these powers are normally set out in the specific legislation which creates the offence under investigation. Investigators have a surviving common law right to seize and retain any evidence relating to suspected offences. For some suspected offences a search warrant is also available eg under the Medicines Act 1968.
None of these powers was superseded by any powers in RIPA 2000 and so there are no plans for removing `legacy powers'.