Use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act provisions

Thank you for your request for information and I confirm we shall
respond as quickly as possible but not later than 20 May 2008.

Wendy Kassamani
FOI Project Support

show quoted sections

Regarding your request for information under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000:

Dear David Harris

I am writing in respect of your recent application for the release of
information held by the Authority:

How many times, to date, has the Council used the

powers of RIPA to obtain information? What is the breakdown of these

requests by each department within the council?

The response is as follows.

The powers under RIPA cover the authorisation of Directed Surveillance and
the acquisition of communications data. In the period January to December
2007 Brighton & Hove City Council recorded

21 applications to carry out Directed Surveillance. The areas of activity

Housing Benefit - Fraudulent Claims (8)

Cultural Services - Criminal Damage problems 91)

Waste Enforcement - Tackling Graffiti and fly tipping (8)

Children Services - Child protection issues (1)

Trading Standards - Fraud investigation (1)

Housing Management - Harassment & Criminal Damage issues (2)

28 notices issued to acquire communications data. These request related to

Subscriber details (24)

Billing data (1)

Authorship of websites (2)

E mailed subscriber details (1)

The majority of the requests were made by Trading Standards to establish
the identity of the perpetrator of a crime under investigation because
other routes had not been successful. The others were from City clean in
relation to graffiti problems in the city.

If you are not satisfied how your request has been handled, you can
appeal. Please write to:

Paul O'Neill

Room 128

Brighton & Hove City Council

King's House

Grand Avenue

Hove BN3 2LS

[1][email address]

If you are still not satisfied after your complaint has been investigated,
you can escalate your complaint to the Information Commissioners Office.
The contact details are:

The Information Commissioners Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

Telephone number: 01625 545745

e-mail: [2][email address]

Website: [3]www.dataprotection.gov.uk

If you have any other queries regarding this process, please contact me
via the contact details at the top of this letter.

Re-use of Public Sector Information and Copyright Statement

Where information has been supplied, you are advised that the copyright in
that material is owned by Brighton & Hove City Council and/or its
contractor(s) unless otherwise stated. The supply of documents under the
Freedom of Information Act does not give the recipient an automatic right
to re-use those documents in a way that would infringe copyright, for
example, by making multiple copies, publishing and issuing copies to the
public.

Brief extracts of the material can be reproduced under the "fair dealing"
provisions of the Copyright Design and Patents Act 1998 (S.29 and S.30)
for the purposes of research for non-commercial purposes, private study,
criticism, review and news reporting.

Authorisation to re-use copyright material not owned by Brighton & Hove
City Council and/or its contractor(s), should be sought from the copyright
holders concerned.

If you are considering re-using the information disclosed to you through
this request, for any purpose outside of what could be considered for
personal use, then you are required under the Public Sector Re-use of
Information Regulations 2005 to make an Application for Re-use to the
organisation from which you have requested the information. Applications
for Re-Use should be directed to me at the address above.

Yours sincerely

Paul O'Neill

ICT Partnership Manager

Notice to recipient:
The information contained in this electronic mail message is intended only for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed and may contain information which is privileged and confidential, the disclosure of which is prohibited by law. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, please note that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately. Thank you in anticipation of your co-operation.

You can visit our website at http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk

Please consider the environment, only print out this email if absolutely necessary.

References

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3. http://www.dataprotection.gov.uk/