Agenda item

To receive the report from the Head of Legal and Democratic (Interim) (report to follow).

The report will inform the Committee regarding the council’s use of directed surveillance and covert human intelligence sources during 2022 and 2023 as required by the statutory code of practice in our enforcement work having proper regard to the principles of necessity, proportionality and lawfulness. It will also seek approval for revisions to the council’s RIPA policy, procedures and action plan.

Recommendations:

That the committee:

a)       notes that surveillance is one of the tools available to the councils as part of their law enforcement functions.

b)       consider and note the council’s use and compliance with RIPA.

c)       approve the amendments made to the currently approved Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 Policy and Procedures, for use by council teams as part of their work.

d)       agree the conclusions of this report and support the recommended actions in the action plan.

e)       authorises the Head of Legal and Democratic (Interim) to make such changes to the Policy and Procedures documents as she may consider necessary from time to time to ensure ongoing compliance with the requirements of the 2000 Act and associated guidance. 

The committee received the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) annual review from the legal services manager, Pat Connell. The legal services manager outlined the report and highlighted to the committee that RIPA provided the framework for covert investigatory powers but that this had to be balanced against the Human Rights Act. In addition, she emphasised that covert intelligence would only be used where it was legal, necessary, and proportionate. She confirmed to the committee that neither South Oxfordshire nor Vale of White Horse District Councils had used the covert powers provided for in the Act.

The legal services manager informed the committee that the Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office had inspected the councils’ use of the powers provided for by RIPA and the Investigatory Powers Act and confirmed that they were satisfied, noting that the councils were limited users of these powers. She indicated that the next inspection would take place in 2077.

Members of the committee asked about if the councils had been subject to legal pressure due to their use of investigatory techniques and the legal services manager confirmed that they had not.

On a question about what council teams could use the covert surveillance powers, and if it could be used by the planning enforcement team specifically, the legal services manager responded that the powers could be used across the council for different purposes but only where it would be legal, necessary, and proportionate. In response to a further question about the deployment of drones for surveillance, she also indicated that a policy framework would need to be created and extensive training around RIPA would need to be provided before that technology would be considered for deployment.

The committee asked for clarity around the length of time between the issuing of warnings and the investigations as this could potentially give offenders opportunity to temporarily halt their activity for the time of the investigation. In response, the legal services manager confirmed that warnings were given, but that in each case the officers would be reasonable in how long they waited, noting that each case would be different. She agreed to provide more detail about this to the committee.

Members were satisfied with the proposed training schedule outlined for the heads of service, who would be trained to be RIPA authorising officers, and that this could bring more attention to the range of powers available to the councils.

In response to a question about how these powers were used by similar authorities, the legal services manager indicated that they did not have that data and so the committee encouraged officers to examine other authorities for benchmarking and to learn best practice in this area.

The committee was satisfied with the report and the recommendations, subject to the clarification that the head of legal and democratic would only be authorised to make minor administrative amendments to the policy and that the power to make larger changes would be reserved for the Joint Audit and Governance Committee.

RESOLVED: to:

a)       note that surveillance is one of the tools available to the councils as part of their law enforcement functions;

b)       note the council’s use and compliance with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA);

c)       approve the amendments made to the currently approved Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 Policy and Procedures, for use by council teams as part of their work;

d)       agree the conclusions of the head of legal and democratic’s report and support the recommended actions in the action plan; and

e)       authorise the head of legal and democratic to make such minor administrative changes to the policy and procedures documents considered necessary from time to time to ensure ongoing compliance with the requirements of the 2000 Act and associated guidance.