There are over 600 public authorities who can use investigatory powers. However, not every organisation can use every power.
The most intrusive powers can only be used by a small number.
Who can use what power is controlled by five key pieces of legislation:
- Investigatory Powers Act 2016
- Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
- Regulations of Investigatory Powers (Scotland) Act 2000
- Police Act 1997
- Intelligence Services Act 1994
This chart shows who is authorised to use each of the powers. If an authorised body can use a specific power, it is marked with a “✓”.
| MI5 | GCHQ | MI6 | Law Enforcement Agencies | Ministry of Defence | Wider Public Authorities | Local Authorities | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Covert Human Intelligence Source | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Covert Human Intelligence Source: Criminal Conduct | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Directed Surveillance | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Intrusive Surveillance | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Property Interference | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Equipment Interference | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Targeted Interception | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Bulk Equipment Interference | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Bulk Personal Datasets | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Bulk Interception | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Bulk Acquisition | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| The Principles | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Section 7, ISA | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
| Comms Data | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
We oversee the use of these powers by these organisations. You can read a full list of the public authorities with access to investigatory powers in Annex A of our 2019 Annual Report.