Commissioning of external organisations to undertake surveillance

Request

  1. The number of external organisations (for instance, private investigators) commissioned to undertake surveillance under the provisions of RIPA for the Organisation and all executive agencies. Please provide disaggregated information if possible.

  2. The number of non-public bodies or private investigators commissioned to undertake surveillance for the Organisation and all executive agencies. Please provide disaggregated information if possible.

  3. The names of the contractors commissioned to undertake surveillance

  4. Total paid to the contractors commissioned to undertake surveillance

  5. For what reason(s) these external organisations (for instance, private investigators) were commissioned to carry out such surveillance.

Please provide answers to each question for the financial years 2010-2011 and 2011-2012.

Note that I am not seeking operational details or knowledge of techniques, nor am I seeking personal information.


Response

IPSA does not hold the information that you request.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority was created in 2009 by the Parliamentary Standards Act and started regulating MPs’ expenses following the General Election in May 2010.  Since that date, IPSA has not authorised any operations or investigations under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) or otherwise.

Ref:
FOI2012-A099
Disclosure:
27 November 2012
Categories:
IPSA - OPERATIONS
Exemptions Applied:
None