Agenda item

(i)              Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000: Annual Review of the Council’s use of powers and Approval of RIPA Policy, Report of the Corporate Director: Resources.

(ii)             Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000: Quarter 1 - 2015/16, Report of the Corporate Director: Resources.

The Committee considered two reports of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services.  The first report was the annual review of the Council’s use of powers and approval of the RIPA policy.  The report informed Members about the Council’s use of powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) during the period 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015.The Solicitor - Governance, Clare Burrows explained that the annual review report set out the types of cases and number of occasions that the powers were used, noting a slight increase in the use of the powers, as a consequence of a greater number of intelligence led investigations.  Members noted that there was an amended RIPA policy attached at Appendix 2 to the annual report, with changes marked for Members information.

The Solicitor - Governance explained that the second report was the quarterly report on the Council’s use of its powers under RIPA for the period 1 April 2015 and 30 June 2015.  The report set out that there had been two new RIPA directed surveillance authorisations, 1 renewal of a directed surveillance authorisation and two Covert Human Intelligence Source authorisations, noting that investigations remain ongoing in relation to two operations regarding the sale of counterfeit tobacco and cigarettes from premises.   No formal action is to be taken in relation to the other two cases.

Councillor J Hillary asked whether these reported figures included operations in connection with fly-tipping.  The Solicitor - Governance noted that RIPA was for covert surveillance and that overt surveillance is used in connection with fly-tipping, with signage put in place to alert the public of cameras being used to detect such activity.

Resolved:

(i)       Receive the Annual Report on the Council’s use of powers under RIPA.

(ii)      Approve the Council’s policy on the use of RIPA.

(iii)      Receive the quarterly report on the Council’s use of RIPA for the period 1 April 2015     to 30 June 2015 and resolve that it is being used consistently with the Council’s       policy and that the policy remains fit for purpose.