Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish details of the two internet service providers that are reported to be conducting trials with her Department and National Crime Agency with the intention to collect Internet Connection Records.

The acquisition and retention of Internet Connection Records (ICRs) is provided for in the Investigatory Powers Act 2016. ICRs are subject to restrictions set out in the Act and can only be acquired for the specific investigative purposes set out in Section 62.

Acquisition of ICRs in the vast majority of cases is subject to independent authorisation by the Office for Communications Data Authorisations. The use of communications data is subject to the oversight of the Investigatory Powers Commissioner (IPC).

It is longstanding government policy not to disclose the specific communications data (CD) acquired by public authorities or retained by telecommunications operators under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (IPA) and its predecessors. This would include details of any data to be acquired or retained and the details of any Telecommunications Operators involved in any trial.

It would be operationally and commercially sensitive to disclose the funding allocations for a trial or any other use of investigatory powers.