We have had a reply from The Assistant Private Secretary to the Interception of Communications Commissioner regarding our Freedom of Information Act request regarding the "Wilson Doctrine" administrative exemption of Members of Parliament to telephone interception.
The letter claims that "your request cannot be acted on". Quelle surprise !
It should be noted that other public bodies which claim not to be such under the FOIA, do try to answer questions from the public, in the spirit of the FOIA e.g. the Association of Chief Police Officers.
Technically the Interception of Communications Commissioner
may not be designated as a Public Body yet, but the office certainly meets both of the conditions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000 section 4 Amendment of Schedule 1 to be included in the list of Public Bodies by Order:
2) The first condition is that the body or office- (a) is established by virtue of Her Majesty's prerogative or by an enactment or by subordinate legislation, or(b) is established in any other way by a Minister of the Crown in his capacity as Minister, by a government department or by the National Assembly for Wales.
(3) The second condition is-
(a) in the case of a body, that the body is wholly or partly constituted by appointment made by the Crown, by a Minister of the Crown, by a government department or by the National Assembly for Wales, or
(b) in the case of an office, that appointments to the office are made by the Crown, by a Minister of the Crown, by a government department or by the National Assembly for Wales.
There can be no question that both of these criteria are clearly fulfilled by Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 section 57 Interception of Communications Commissioner
57. - (1) The Prime Minister shall appoint a Commissioner to be known as the Interception of Communications Commissioner.
We will be writing to the Department for Constitutional Affairs to have all the Commissioners established by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act added to the Schedule 1 list of Public Bodies.
The letter from The Assistant Private Secretary to the Interception of Communications Commissioner:
From: The Assistant Private Secretary to the Interception of Communications Commissioner C/O PO Box 33220, London, SW1H 9ZQ [Address]
Date 17th January 2005
N.B.Their error with the Date, not ours !
Dear XXX
I acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 15th January 2006, forwarded on by the Home Office and received 17th January 2005,
2005 date again !
to the Interception of Communications Commissioner, making a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.Under section 1 of the Act a person is entitled to request information from a public authority, Section 3 of theAct defines a "public authority" as any body which , or any person who, or the holder of any office which is-
i) is listed in Schedule 1,or
ii) is designated by order under section 5The Interception of Communications Commissioner is an individual who holds public office and does not fall under the Act's definition of a public authority. Consequently, your request cannot be acted on.
As you seem to be aware, the Commissioner does produce an ANnual Report, required by virtue of section 58(4) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA). These reports are published by the HMSO, and can either be purchased or accessed via the HMSO website.
Surely they mean the Office of Public Sector Information website ?
You can read the latest annual (censored) report online: Annual Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner for 2004 (.pdf)
I also note that you request information that directly relates to RIPA, which should be referred directly to the Home Office as the responsible body for this peice of legislation.
Actually it referred to the "Wilson Doctrine", i.e. the administrative procedures and exemptions to RIPA, the auditing of and the provision of advice about, is the function of the Interception of Communications Commissioner.
I trust that the above response is sufficient for your needsYours sincerely AAA
