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UK: Surveillance statistics: 1937-2015

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13 March 2015

Compiled by Tony Bunyan since 1977, updated 13 March 2015

his Statewatch Observatory covers: Official reports (now the Interception of Communications Commissioner) on telephone-tapping 1937-2015 and the reports from the Chief Surveillance Commissioner which covers covert surveillance by law enforcement agencies (LEAs) from 2003 onwards

The reports show the figures for the UK (1937-2015) England & Wales (from 1937-2010) and Scotland (from 1967-2010)

2014: Report of the Interception of Communmications Commissioner (pdf)
2013: Report of the Interception of Communmications Commissioner (pdf)
2012: Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner (pdf)
2011: Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner (pdf)
2010: Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner (pdf)
2009: Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner (pdf)
2008: Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner (pdf)
2007: Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner (pdf)
1 April 2006 to 31 December 2006: Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner (pdf)
1 January 2005 - 31 March 2006: "Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner" (pdf)
2004: "Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner" (pdf)

See: Analysis 2011 report: Commissioner's annual reports: Interception of Communications and Surveillance: More information or a lot less?

• Interception Commissioner claims giving more information would aid criminals
• Surveillance Commissioner complains again about the lack of resources to do the job properly
  

During the Second World War the highest yearly total for warrants (for phone tapping and mail-opening) issued was 1,682. This figure, despite the Cold War and bombings by the Provisional IRA, was not surpassed until 1998 (1,763). Since 1997 the number of annual warrants (and modifications) issued has risen from 1,712 to 18,612 (2012).

The charts below gives the figures for the number of warrants issued for telephone tapping and mail-opening issued for the period 1937-2012 in England and Wales; the warrants issued by the Secretary of State for Scotland between 1967-2010 (and the number issued by the Foreign Secretary between 1980-1984).

Since 2005 the number of requests for communications data from service providers are included. Latest report for 2012: Annual Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner (pdf)

The Interception Commissioner's report also covers access to "communications data" which refers to data concerning a phone-call, e-mail, fax, mobile phone-call (and location) and internet usage (which also reveals the "content" of the "communication"). Not to be confused surveillance warrants coming under the Chief Surveillance Commissioner reports 2004-2013 which covers covert information sources

The Interception Commissioner lists the number of requests for access to communications data (ie: traffic data) under RIPA Part I Chapter II from service providers. Much public attention, quite rightly, has focussed on the use by local authorities to obtain communications data however, the bulk of the requests are made by the police, Special Branch and MI5. It does not cover, or give figures for, the Foreign Office (MI6 and GCHQ) nor for Northern Ireland. In his 2007 report the Commissioner records: "I am pleased to say that more and more police forces are introducing automatic systems for the management of communications data requests" (emphasis added) and in the 2009 report that: "Of all the intelligence agencies the Security Service is the largest user of communications data and it has a fully automated system to manage its requirements." (emphasis added)

Requests for access to communications data from "communications service providers and internet service providers" have been put on record:

• 1 January 2005 - 31 March 2006: 439,054 giving an adjusted annual figure of : 351,243
• 1 April - 31 December 2006: 253,557, giving an adjusted annual figure of: 338,076
• The year 2007: 519,260
• The year 2008: 504,073
• The year 2009: 525,130
• The year 2010: 552,550
• The year 2011: 494,078
• The year 2012: 570,135
• The year 2013: 514,608 (inc GCHQ: 1,406, SIS/MI6 672 and MI5: 56,918)
• The year 2014: 517,236 (inc GCHQ: 1,291, SIS/MI6: 652 and MI5: 48,639)

No figures are given for subsequent requests for access to the "content" of communications, nor charges or convictions that result.

1. The 2005-31 March 2006 total figures for telephone-tapping were 2,407 (England, Wales and Scotland) and the number of "modifications" was 5,143. The fifteen months figures make annual comparisons difficult as quarterly figures have never been published. An extrapolation based on four quarters suggests that the total number of warrants and "modifications" during 2005 was 5,723 (up from 5,340 in 2004) and the highest figure ever.

2. The recording of figures changed in 1998 with the figures for "modifications" (change of telephone number, adding addresses etc) being presented separately (previously every change needed a new warrant to be issued). The combining of warrants issued with "modifications" is the only way to present historically comparable figures. The comparable figures for 2004 show that initial interception warrants were 1,973 plus 3,367 "modifications" making a total of 5,340 a rise of 9%.

3. As in previous years these figures only cover warrants issued by the Home Secretary and the First Minister in Scotland. They do not include warrants issued by the Foreign Office to GCHQ and MI6 nor those issued by the Northern Ireland Secretary of State.

For an explanation of how "modifications" affect the overall figures and of other changes, eg: warrants are now also issued for longer periods which means that fewer rather than more warrants should be issued: see Statewatch analysis: How changes in procedure disguise true surveillance figures

Some general observations on the history of interception can be made on the figures for England and Wales.

1) 1955 was the first year that the number of warrants issued for telephone-tapping was greater than those for mail-opening;

2) The record number of warrants issued in 1940 a total of 1,682 was exceeded for the first time in 1997 with 1,712 warrants being issued.

3) The high number of warrants between 1939-1941 is clearly attributable to the beginning of the Second World War; the rise in 1948 to the beginning of the Cold War and strikes, the post-war low point of 238 total warrants was in 1958 with the rise between 1971-1975 being due to industrial action combined with Cold War paranoia.

4) The total number of warrants was pretty steady in the 400's from 1976 until 1991.

5) A major change was introduced in 1998 and further changes in the recording methods with the introduction of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) on 2 October 2000. A major change in July 1998 stripped out the number of warrants which are "modified" (ie: a new address or phone number is needed) which previously required a new warrant to be issued. Thus in order to present historically comparative figures the number of "modifications" needs to be added to the number of initial warrants issued. The new charts below bring together the total figures for England, Wales and Scotland to reflect these changes. No figures have ever been issued for Northern Ireland.

In future are listed the following:

1) The overall figures for England, Wales and Scotland (warrants plus "modifications") - 1990 ongoing: Table 1: UK figures from 2011
2) The number of warrants issued for England and Wales (warrants plus "modifications") - Table 2: 1937-2010
3) The number of warrants issued for Scotland (warrants plus "modifications") - Table 3 - 1967-2010

Table 1: England, Wales and Scotland - Year	Interception warrants	Modifications	Total
1990	581	-	581
1991	815	-	815
1992	966	-	966
1993	1,120	-	1,120
1994	1,047	-	1,047
1995	1,135	-	1,135
1996	1,370	-	1,370
1997	1,712	-	1,712
1998	2,031	172	2,203
1999	2,022	565	2,587
2000	1,900	722	2,622
2001	1,445	1,982	3,427
2002	1,605	2,143	3,748
2003	1,983	2,844	4,827
2004	1,973	3,367	5,340
2005-31 March 2006 - 15 months	(2,407)	(5,143)	(7,550)
Adjusted annual figure [*]	1,926	3,797	5,723
1 April 2006-31 Dec 2006 - 9 months	(1,435)	(3,783)	( 5,218)
Adjusted annual figure [*]	1,913	5,044	6,957
2007	2,026	5,944	7,970
2008	1,712	5,754	7,466
2009	1,706	5,896	7,602
2010	1,865	6,409	8,274
UK figures
2011	2,911 warrants issued in the year, excluding those already in place at year end which are estimated to be 1,135 = 4,046 (**)	No figure provided. Estimated to be 8,092 (**)	12,138 (**)
2012	3,372 warrants issued in the year, excluding those already in place at year end which are estimated to be 1,281 = 4,653 (**)	No figure provided, estimated to be: 13,959 (***)	18,612
2013	2,760 warrants issued plus estimated 1,660 = 4,420	No figure provided, estimated yo be: 13,250 (***)	17,670
2014	2,795 warrants plus 1,669 already in place (extant, now provided in 2013 report) = 4,464	No figure provided, estimated to be: 13,392	17,856

Note [*]: Adjusted for three/four quarters, average
Note [**] Only a single global figure is provided for the whole UK of warrants issued in the year.
Note [***] Historical figures show that "Modifications" are, on average three times the number of warrants issued.

This now includes warrants issued by the Foreign Secretary and the Northern Ireland Secretary.

Table 2: England & Wales	Telephone tapping warrants	Mail opening warrants. Modifications after 2001	Total
1937	17	556	573
1938	20	710	730
1939	29	973	1,002
1940	125	1,557	1,682
1941	180	862	1,042
1942	164	514	678
1943	126	329	455
1944	102	213	315
1945	56	90	146
1946	73	139	212
1947	110	190	300
1948	103	870	973
1949	133	641	774
1950	179	356	535
1951	177	486	663
1952	173	462	635
1953	202	459	661
1954	222	227	449
1955	241	205	446
1956	159	183	342
1957	n/a	n/a	n/a
1958	129	109	238
1959	159	101	260
1960	195	110	305
1961	183	75	258
1962	242	96	338
1963	270	128	398
1964	253	120	373
1965	299	93	392 [1]
1966	318	139	457
1967	307	92	399
1968	333	83	416
1969	377	93	470
1970	395	104	499
1971	418	86	504
1972	413	95	508
1973	424	73	497
1974	436	93	529
1975	468	93	561
1976	410	62	472
1977	407	84	491
1978	428	44	472
1979	411	52	463
1980	414	39	453 [2]
1981	402	46	448
1982	379	54	433
1983	372	53	415
1984	352	39	391
1985	403	40	443
1986	573	95	668 [3]
1987	438	34	472
1988	412	48	460
1989	427	31	458
1990	473	42	515
1991	670	62	732
1992	756	118	874
1993	893	105	998
1994	871	76	947
1995	910	87	997
1996	1,073	69	1,142
1997	1.391	65	1,456
1998	1,646	117	1,763
1999	1,645	89	1,734
2000	1,559	49	1,608
2001	1,314 [4]	-	1,314
2002	1,466	-	1,466
2003	1,878	2,525	4,403
2004	1,849	3,101	4,950
Adjusted annual figure (2005 - 31 March 2006)	1,794 (2,243)[5]	3,799 (4,746)[5]	5,591 (6,989)[5]
Adjusted annual figure (1 Apr-31 Dec 06)	1,777 (1,333)[6]	4,652 (3,489)[6]	6,429 (4,822)[6]
2007	1,881	5,577	7,458
2008	1,508	5,344	6,852
2009	1,514	5,267	6,781
2010	1,682	5,761	7,464
2011	NO LONGER PUBLISHED

[1] This figure is wrongly given as 382 in Cmnd. 7873

[2] Cmnd 9438 states in the figures between 1980-1984 excludes warrants issued under the 1920 Official Secrets Act.

[3] The Report of the Commissioner for 1998 states in para.6 that the high figure for this year "is explained by the need to replace all the outstanding non-statutory warrants when the new Act came into force".

[4] From 2001 no separate figures for mail-opening warrants are to be issued.

[5] The five-quarter figures have been annualised.

[6] The three-quarter figures have been annualised.

Table 3: Scotland	Telephone tapping warrants	Mail-opening warrants then "modifications" from 2001	Total warrants issued for year
1967	3	-	3
1968	10	-	10
1969	8	-	8
1970	14	-	14
1971	10	2	12
1972	15	-	15
1973	20	-	20
1974	33	5	38
1975	41	-	41
1976	41	-	41
1977	52	3	55
1978	42	-	42
1979	56	-	56
1980	50	-	50
1981	49	-	49
1982	79	2	81
1983	53	1	54
1984	71	4	75
1985	59	9	68
1986	84	4	88 [1]
1987	54	3	57
1988	54	5	59
1989	63	1	64
1990	66	2	66
1991	81	1	82
1992	87	5	92
1993	112	10	122
1994	90	10	100
1995	137	1	138
1996	228	0	228
1997	256	0	256
1998	267	1	268
1999	288	-	288
2000	292	-	292
2001	131	194 ["Modifications" for following years, Note: 3]	325
2002	139	258	397
2003	105	319	424
2004	124	266	390
Adjusted annual figure (2005 - 31 March 2006)	131 (164)	318 (397)	449 (561)
Adjusted annual figure (1 Apr-31 Dec 06)	136 (102)	352 (294)	488 (396)
2007	145	367	512
2008	204	610	814
2009	192	629	821
2010	183	648	831
2011	NO LONGER PUBLISHED

[1] The Report of the Commissioner for 1998 states in para.6 that the high figure for this year "is explained by the need to replace all the outstanding non-statutory warrants when the new Act came into force".

[2] It is noticeable that several of the rises in Scotland, especially for warrants to open letters, occurs during years when strikes played an important role, e.g. 1971, 1974, 1977, 1984 and 1985. It is also apparent that the overall figures for Scotland rose significantly during the 1980s (over the 1970s).

[3] From 2001 no separate figures are given for mail-opening warrants. But for the first time in 2001 there were an additional 194 "modifications". This the total for 2001 is 325, not 131.

Foreign Secretary:Year [1][2]	Telephone tapping warrants	Mail-opening warrants	Total
1980	136	-	136
1981	101	-	101
1982	92	-	92
1983	109	-	109
1984	115	-	115

[1] Figures for warrants issued by the Foreign Secretary have not been issued since 1984.

[2] The Report of the Commissioner for 1990 it states that it would be against the public interest to publish the number of warrants issued by the Foreign Secretary and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.