To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many requests law enforcement agencies made to telephone and internet companies for details of (a) telephone calls and (b) internet use involving a public body authorised to require the disclosure of information under Part 3 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 in each year since 2001; which were the 20 public bodies in respect of which the most requests were made; and how many requests were made in respect of each of those 20 bodies. (232947)

[holding answer 3 November 2008]: The number of requests for communications data under Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) is published in the Interception of Communications Commissioner’s annual report. These figures were not collated before 2005 and are not broken down by agency, type of communication (i.e. telephone or internet) or the service provider.

Part 3 of RIPA deals with investigation of electronic data protected by encryption. These provisions have only been in force since October 2007. To date, 26 section 49 notices have been served on individuals requiring them to disclose material protected by encryption in an intelligible form.