Part 8: Oversight arrangements Chapter 1: Investigatory Powers Commissioner and other Judicial Commissioners Section 230: Additional directed oversight functions
As the policies, capabilities and practices of the security and intelligence agencies change with time, subsections (1) to (3) allow the Prime Minister to direct the IPC to oversee new areas. This is to ensure that independent oversight keeps pace with developments within the security and intelligence agencies. The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament may request that the Prime Minister gives a direction to the IPC.
	Subsection (4) sets out that the Prime Minister must publish any direction that they give to the IPC to ensure that there is transparency about the Commissioner's role. However, this will need to be balanced against a situation where saying too much about what is being overseen will give away details of, for example, the capabilities of an intelligence service, to the extent that it has a detrimental impact, such as causing damage to national security.