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HOME DEPARTMENT
Prosecution (Official Secrets)
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have been begun in each year since 1972 under Official Secrets legislation; and what the outcome was in each case. [28631]
Mr. Keith Bradley: The available information, from the Home Office Court Proceedings Database, relating to England and Wales for the years 1979 to 2000 is shown in the table. This covers proceedings under the Official Secrets Act 1911 and 1989 and tabulates the outcomes of cases completed in the years shown by category.
It is no longer possible, from the data held centrally, to identify court proceedings for such legislation prior to 1979, nor is it possible to identify summary offences under the Official Secrets Act 1920.
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| Type of sentence | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proceeded against | Withdrawn, dismissed acquitted | Found guilty and sentenced(48) | Fine | Community service order | Partly suspended sentence | Fully suspended sentence | Immediate custody | |
| 1979 | 1 | — | 1 | — | — | — | 1 | — |
| 1980 | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1981 | 4 | — | 3 | 1 | 2 | — | — | — |
| 1982 | 8 | — | 7 | — | — | — | 2 | 5 |
| 1983 | 4 | — | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | 1 |
| 1984 | 13 | 1 | 5 | 3 | — | — | — | 2 |
| 1985 | 3 | 11 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1986 | — | 1 | 2 | 1 | — | — | 1 | — |
| 1987 | 3 | 1 | 4 | — | — | — | 2 | 2 |
| 1988 | 11 | 3 | 3 | — | — | 2 | — | 1 |
| 1989 | — | — | 8 | — | — | — | 8 | — |
| 1990 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1991 | 5 | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | — | 2 |
| 1992 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1993 | 1 | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | 1 |
| 1994 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1995 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1996 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1997 | 1 | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | 1 |
| 1998 | 2 | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | 1 |
| 1999 | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | 1 |
| 2000 | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
(48) Persons shown as found guilty may have been proceeded against in earlier years. In some cases a Voluntary Bill of Indictment was issued, so no magistrates' court proceedings will have taken place.
Government Technical Assistance Centre
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the role of the Government Technical Assistance Centre; and what (a) its budget and (b) establishment are in the current financial year. [28640]
Mr. Blunkett: The role of the Government Technical Assistance Centre, now known as the National Technical Assistance Centre (NTAC), is to provide assistance to the investigations of United Kingdom intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
It will do so by providing techniques for lawful interception of modern multimedia communications and by processing those lawfully intercepted communications in order to provide intelligible material to the intercepting agencies. NTAC also provides techniques to derive intelligible evidence from lawfully seized computer data.
NTAC was established in response to the 1999 Cabinet Office Performance and Innovation Unit report "Encryption and Law Enforcement". It is a Unit within the Home Office and operates from the headquarters of the Security Services.
NTAC is not an investigative facility. Its function is to process lawfully acquired data on behalf of its customers so that such data may be made intelligible and then acted upon by investigators within the relevant customer agency.
Since the summer of 2001 NTAC has been operational in its role in respect of lawfully seized computer data. It plans to commence operational work in respect of lawfully intercepted communications in summer 2002.
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Budget 2001–02:
The NTAC budget for 2001–02 is £16 million. Of this, £1 million is Running Cost provision and £15 million is capital provision from an overall three-year Capital Modernisation Fund (CMF) allocation of £25 million. The purpose of the CMF moneys is to establish the technical facilities necessary for NTAC to undertake its operational role.
The current (January 2002) operational establishment of NTAC is 16 and will rise to 18 by the end of the current financial year. This includes senior management, operational and support staff. The establishment will rise further as new operational capabilities come on stream.
NTAC also runs a technical programme which is developing its technical facilities. This currently comprises 14 staff and will disband when NTAC is fully operational.
Surveillance
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what controls exist to regulate the monitoring of the location of individuals through signals sent by mobile phones. [28327]
Mr. Denham: Communications data, including location data, may be supplied voluntarily for specified purposes (e.g. investigation of crime) under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Telecommunications Act 1984. It may additionally be supplied in obedience to Court Orders.
A new regulatory regime will be provided by Chapter II of Part I of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. This will be brought into force in due course.
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Under Chapter II, an authorising officer must consider that the communications data are necessary for one of the purposes specified by the Act and that the conduct involved in obtaining them is proportionate to what it seeks to achieve.
Access to communications data will be subject to oversight by the Interception Commissioner. Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have been
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initiated under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000; what the outcome was in each case; and if he will make a statement. [28634]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: None. Stolen Equipment
Mr. Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what equipment has been stolen from his Department since 1 May 1997; and what the approximate value of each item was. [26838]
Angela Eagle: A list of equipment stolen from my Department in the last four years and approximate value of each item stolen is provided in the following tables.
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