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22 May 2008 : Column 474W—continued

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many instances have been reported to her Department of Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 powers being used for cases unrelated to terrorism or serious crime. [204344]

Mr. McNulty: The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 covers a number of different covert investigatory powers used by a broad spectrum of public bodies for a variety of purposes. This includes, but is not limited to, Secretary of State authorisation of intrusive techniques by intelligence and law enforcement agencies to combat terrorism and serious crime. In instances where Secretary of State authorisation is not required—such as the police use of informants, local council use of telephone billing records or regulatory body use of surveillance—there is no requirement to report the exercise of these powers
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to the Secretary of State. Authorisation of all these powers is subject to regular inspection by the Interception of Communications Commissioner and the Chief Surveillance Commissioner who publish annual reports on their findings. The most recent publications have been placed in the Library.

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000

Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make a statement on the use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 in relation to terrorist cases. [203823]

Mr. McNulty: The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (‘RIPA’) introduced for the first time a regulatory framework for the use by public bodies of the covert investigative techniques necessary for carrying out their statutory functions. RIPA requires that authorisation of covert investigatory techniques is consistent with ECHR Article 8 principles, relating to the necessity and proportionality of their use in each case. It also establishes safeguards such as independent Commissioners to oversee the use by public bodies of covert investigatory techniques,
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and an independent Investigatory Powers Tribunal to investigate complaints. The Security and Intelligence Agencies and the Law Enforcement Agencies comply with the requirements of the Act in all investigations requiring the use of covert investigatory techniques, including terrorist investigations.

Stop and Search

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people had their vehicle stopped and searched under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 in each year since 2000; and how many of those were (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted of (i) a notifiable offence and (ii) a terrorism-related offence in (A) each police force area and (B) England and Wales. [200255]

Mr. McNulty: The stops and search statistical collection, held by the Ministry of Justice, identifies vehicles and occupants searched under s44(1) of the Terrorism Act 2000. The information is not linked with details of any subsequent prosecutions and convictions. The available information is given in the following table.

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22 May 2008 : Column 478W

Searches of vehicles( 1) under section 44(1) of the Terrorism Act 2000, by police force area, from 2001-02 to 2005-06, England and Wales
Police force area	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06( 2)	Total
Avon and Somerset	—	—	—	—	—	—
Bedfordshire	—	—	—	—	—	—
Cambridgeshire	—	—	—	1	—	1
Cheshire	7	58	—	—	—	65
Cleveland	—	—	—	—	—	—
Cumbria	—	—	—	—	—	—
Derbyshire	5	—	—	—	—	5
Devon and Cornwall	2	—	2	—	—	4
Dorset	—	—	—	—	—	—
Durham	235	—	—	—	—	235
Essex	—	—	4	124	148	276
Gloucestershire	4	4	1	—	—	9
Greater Manchester	—	89	37	235	—	361
Hampshire	—	2	17	35	67	121
Hertfordshire	3	—	—	—	—	3
Humberside	—	—	—	—	—	—
Kent	—	8	—	—	—	8
Lancashire	—	—	—	—	—	—
Leicestershire	1	3	—	—	—	4
Lincolnshire	—	—	—	—	—	—
London, City of	1	42	24	21	210	298
Merseyside	—	—	—	—	—	—
Metropolitan Police	1,108	10,198	4,157	3,038	4,815	23,316
Norfolk	—	2	—	—	—	2
Northamptonshire	—	—	—	—	—	—
Northumbria	—	—	—	40	—	40
North Yorkshire	—	—	—	3	2	5
Nottinghamshire	—	—	—	—	—	—
South Yorkshire	205	105	—	—	—	310
Staffordshire	—	—	—	—	—	—
Suffolk	—	1	—	—	—	1
Surrey	—	8	1	5	—	14
Sussex	64	32	10	59	—	165
Thames Valley	—	—	3	1	1	5
Warwickshire	—	—	—	—	1	1
West Mercia	—	—	—	—	—	—
West Midlands	—	—	—	—	—	—
West Yorkshire	—	—	—	—	—	—
Wiltshire	—	—	—	—	—	—
Dyfed Powys	—	—	—	—	—	—
Gwent	—	—	—	—	2	2
North Wales	—	—	1	—	—	1
South Wales	—	—	139	231	258	628
England and Wales	1,635	10,552	4,396	3,793	5,504	25,880
(1) Searches may be conducted on vehicles only, occupants only, or both may be searched. Where a vehicle and driver occupier are searched simultaneously the search is recorded against the driver (occupant). Any other passengers searched are recorded as occupants. Data given in the table are where a vehicle only has been searched. (2) Figures have been updated following publication of the bulletin for 2004-05. Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when these data are used.

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