Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to comments made by the former Director of GCHQ Robert Hannigan on the BBC's Today programme of 10 July 2017, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of wider use of equipment interference warranty in conjunction with Section 253 notices requiring technology companies to maintain a capacity to provide access to individual devices as an alternative to any new Section 253 requirements on such companies to maintain a capacity to provide decrypts of messages sent using their communications software.

The Government is committed to working with telecommunications operators to ensure that the security and intelligence agencies and law enforcement are able to access the data they need to protect the public.

In due course the Government will commence the provisions of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 concerning technical capability notices and will bring forward regulations, on which we have already held a targeted consultation with relevant bodies. These regulations will set out the obligations which can be imposed on telecommunications and postal operators by such a notice.