Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for warrants for electronic surveillance she rejected last year.

Statistics on warrants relating to the interception of communications are published in the Interception of Communications Commissioner’s annual reports, which can be found at: http://www.iocco-uk.info/

Statistics on warrants relating to intrusive surveillance and interference with property or wireless telegraphy by the Intelligence Services are published in the Intelligence Services Commissioner’s annual reports, which can be found at: http://intelligencecommissioner.com

Given the sensitivities of warrants, the oversight commissioners and successive governments have not provided more detailed breakdowns of statistics, including on the number of rejected warrant applications.