Dear Sir or Madam,

How many times, to date, has the Council used the powers of RIPA to
obtain information on it's constituents? What is the breakdown of
these requests by each department within the council? How many
times, to date, has the Council been refused the use of the powers
of RIPA? What is the breakdown of the refused requests by each
department within the council?

Yours faithfully,

Ian Cooper

Dear Mr Cooper

I am emailing to confirm receipt of your FOI request to Wigan Council.

We did not receive your original request, and I only discovered that you
had made it by accident when showing the WhatDoTheyKnow website to
someone else yesterday. I have asked the website to resubmit your
request, which they have now done. As we did not receive it before, the
deadline for a response is based on its having been received today.

We will therefore respond as soon as possible, and in any case, no later
than 1 August 2008, which is 20 working days after receipt of your
request. If you have any comments or questions in the meantime, please
do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards

Tim Turner
Data Protection / FOI Officer, Business Support Services
Wigan Council
Email address: [email address]
Postal address: Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan, WN1 IYN

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Dear Mr Cooper

I am emailing to respond to your FOI request to Wigan Council, which we
received on July 4 2008

Question 1: How many times, to date, has the Council used the powers of
RIPA to obtain information on its constituents?

The information held by the Council is based on the number of
authorisations granted:

2007 - 8
41 surveillance authorisations granted
8 Covert Human Intelligence Sources recruited

1 request for billing / communication information granted (calendar year
2007)

2006 - 7
74 surveillance authorisations granted
9 Covert Human Intelligence Sources recruited

4 requests for billing / communication information granted (calendar
year 2006)

2005 - 6
46 surveillance authorisations granted
3 Covert Human Intelligence Sources recruited

2 requests for billing / communication information granted (calendar
year 2005)

2004 - 5
92 surveillance authorisations granted
7 Covert Human Intelligence Sources recruited

3 requests for billing / communication information granted (calendar
year 2004)

2003 - 4
80 surveillance authorisations granted
11 Covert Human Intelligence Sources recruited

Question 2: What is the breakdown of these requests by each department
within the council?

In 2007-8, all requests were from Environmental Services; before that
requests came from departments which made up Environmental Services
(i.e. Community Protection). A smaller number were requested by Internal
Audit for internal investigations, but we were advised by the
Surveillance Commissioner that such authorisations were not required. No
RIPA requests have been received or granted from Adult Services or
Children and Young People's Services (which includes Education).

Question 3: How many times, to date, has the Council been refused the
use of the powers of RIPA?

None

Question 4: What is the breakdown of the refused requests by each
department within the council?

None

I hope the information is clear and answers your request in full. If you
are unhappy with any aspect of this response, an independent senior
officer will review this decision. Please let me know if you would like
to arrange this.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner, who is the
regulator for Freedom of Information. His website is
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk, and his helpline number is 01625
545745. His staff may ask you to exhaust our internal complaints
procedure if you choose to complain to his office now.

Regards

Tim Turner
Data Protection / FOI Officer
Business Support Services
Wigan Council

External Tel: 01942 488354
External Fax: 01942 827093
Email address: [email address]
Postal address: Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan, WN1 IYN

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