Anne Main questions the  Home Secretary about measures in the draft Investigatory Powers Bill relating to the time period of warrants and the sharing of data between agencies.

Mrs Anne Main (St Albans) (Con): I welcome the Secretary of State’s comments that local authorities will be banned from accessing these sorts of data. Can she give a little more information about the extension of the life of a warrant for any period and about data-sharing among those who are able to access those warrants—or will each authority have to access their own separate warrant?

Mrs May: Any agency that wishes to intercept and use these intrusive powers would need to have a warrant to do so. The current position, which it is intended will be replicated in the Bill, is that a warrant applied for by the security and intelligence agencies is normally in place for six months, and a warrant applied for by law enforcement is normally in place for three months. There is a much shorter period of time when an emergency warrant is signed; it normally must be reconsidered within five days.

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