We have had a reply from The Assistant Private Secretary to the Interception of Communications Commissioner regarding our Freedom of Information Act request regarding the "Wilson Doctrine" administrative exemption of Members of Parliament to telephone interception.
The letter claims that "your request cannot be acted on". Quelle surprise !
It should be noted that other public bodies which claim not to be such under the FOIA, do try to answer questions from the public, in the spirit of the FOIA e.g. the Association of Chief Police Officers.
Technically the Interception of Communications Commissioner
may not be designated as a Public Body yet, but the office certainly meets both of the conditions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000 section 4 Amendment of Schedule 1 to be included in the list of Public Bodies by Order:
2) The first condition is that the body or office- (a) is established by virtue of Her Majesty's prerogative or by an enactment or by subordinate legislation, or(b) is established in any other way by a Minister of the Crown in his capacity as Minister, by a government department or by the National Assembly for Wales.
(3) The second condition is-
(a) in the case of a body, that the body is wholly or partly constituted by appointment made by the Crown, by a Minister of the Crown, by a government department or by the National Assembly for Wales, or
(b) in the case of an office, that appointments to the office are made by the Crown, by a Minister of the Crown, by a government department or by the National Assembly for Wales.
There can be no question that both of these criteria are clearly fulfilled by Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 section 57 Interception of Communications Commissioner
57. - (1) The Prime Minister shall appoint a Commissioner to be known as the Interception of Communications Commissioner.
We will be writing to the Department for Constitutional Affairs to have all the Commissioners established by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act added to the Schedule 1 list of Public Bodies.
The letter from The Assistant Private Secretary to the Interception of Communications Commissioner:
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