The Director of Law, HR and Asset Management reported on the operation within the authority of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA), which governed how public bodies used surveillance methods.  The Council, like other local authorities, was entitled to use directed surveillance where doing so was in the public interest for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime or preventing disorder. The Office of the Surveillance Commissioner (OSC) was responsible for overseeing the operation of RIPA, and the Council had to account to the OSC on an annual basis on its use of investigatory powers.  The Council had been the subject of two inspections by the OSC, in July 2003 and July 2007, as well as a recent review by its own Internal Audit Section. The Director reported that one of the recommendations of that review had been for the Council’s Policy and Procedures on the use of RIPA to be updated.

The Director commented that there had been a large degree of misreporting on the subject of surveillance and he presented a Home Office document that sought to correct some of the misconceptions. The Council had used directed surveillance to support its enforcement activity since the passing of RIPA, and in the year 2007/08 had granted 45 authorisations. Those related to cases investigated by the Wirral Anti-social Behaviour Team (36) and the Trading Standards team (9), and the use of the powers had assisted in legal action to deal with rogue traders and to obtain court orders to tackle anti-social behaviour.

The Director presented a copy of the latest OSC inspection report and outlined the actions taken by the Council in response the recommendations. He also presented a revised Policy and Procedure on the use of powers under RIPA, which had been considered by the Chief Officers Management Team and would be presented to the next meeting of the Cabinet for approval.  He added that the Council would be subject to a further OSC inspection later in the year, which would test the adequacy of the arrangements that were in place.

In response to comments from members, the Director reported that authorising officers had to be satisfied that the use of covert surveillance was as a last resort and had to be proportionate to the harm the Council was seeking to deal with. All responsible/authorised officers of the Council involved in such activity were required to be trained at least every two years and risk assessments would always be undertaken.

Members stressed the need for the RIPA process to be transparent in order to alleviate public concerns about invasion of privacy.

Resolved – That the document “Policy and Procedure on the Use of Powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act” be endorsed, subject to the further minor amendments now suggested (including the names of responsible officers).