RIPA (ref1) - Authorisation and Compliance, and Policies and Procedures
Case reference FOI2024/01837
Received 31 October 2024
Published 21 November 2024
Request
Please provide the following information:
1. Regarding RIPA Authorisation and Compliance
• Can you confirm how many RIPA authorisations were requested, granted, and refused in the last five years, and provide anonymised details of the nature of these authorisations?
• Can you provide a copy of the procedures and criteria used for assessing whether RIPA authorisation is needed for covert surveillance, and confirm who is responsible for reviewing these criteria?
• What training do staff undergo to ensure compliance with RIPA when conducting surveillance activities, and when was the last training session conducted?
• If RIPA authorisation was refused, what alternative measures were taken to achieve the same surveillance objectives without breaching privacy rights?
2. Regarding Policies and Procedures
• How often are your surveillance policies, including RIPA policies, reviewed and updated, and can you provide a copy of the latest review or audit findings?
• Can you confirm whether any complaints or legal challenges have been made against the council regarding misuse of RIPA powers or improper surveillance in the past five years? What were the outcomes?
• What safeguards are in place to ensure that surveillance conducted without RIPA authorisation is always compliant with data protection laws and individuals' privacy rights?
Response
Please provide the following information:
1. Regarding RIPA Authorisation and Compliance
• Can you confirm how many RIPA authorisations were requested, granted, and refused in the last five years, and provide anonymised details of the nature of these authorisations?
Answer: The Service Area have advised there have been 2 RIPA authorisations in the last 5 years, both of which were tobacco purchases. There were no refusals.
• Can you provide a copy of the procedures and criteria used for assessing whether RIPA authorisation is needed for covert surveillance, and confirm who is responsible for reviewing these criteria?
Answer: The RIPA policy is reviewed by the Audit and Governance Committee, and is publically available on the Herefordshire Council website and can be viewed via the following link:
RIPA policy - Council policies, strategies and procedures – Herefordshire Council
As such we consider this information to be exempt under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 because it is reasonably accessible to you via other means. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
• What training do staff undergo to ensure compliance with RIPA when conducting surveillance activities, and when was the last training session conducted?
Answer: All relevant staff are trained in RIPA by an external provider on joining the Council and receive ‘update’ training. All relevant staff were last trained in April/May 2024.
• If RIPA authorisation was refused, what alternative measures were taken to achieve the same surveillance objectives without breaching privacy rights?
Answer: N/A – there were no RIPA refusals.
2. Regarding Policies and Procedures
• How often are your surveillance policies, including RIPA policies, reviewed and updated, and can you provide a copy of the latest review or audit findings?
Answer: Please see the RIPA Policy.
• Can you confirm whether any complaints or legal challenges have been made against the council regarding misuse of RIPA powers or improper surveillance in the past five years? What were the outcomes?
Answer: The Service Area have advised there was 1 challenge to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal in 2023, which was dismissed without merit.
• What safeguards are in place to ensure that surveillance conducted without RIPA authorisation is always compliant with data protection laws and individuals' privacy rights?
Answer: The Council has a RIPA policy and relevant staff are trained on the requirements of RIPA.
Documents
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