Part 3: Authorisations for obtaining communications data Section 70: Relevant public authorities and designated senior officers
This section introduces Schedule 4 to the Act and makes provision in relation to relevant public authorities, designated senior officers and safeguards.
	Schedule 4 includes a table which lists the public authorities permitted to obtain communications data under Part 3 of the Act (column 1); the minimum office, rank or position of the designated senior officers permitted to grant authorisations to obtain data (column 2); the types of communications data that may be obtained (column 3); and the statutory purposes for which they may be obtained (column 4).
	Subsection (2) provides that a public authority which is listed in column 1 of the table in Schedule 4 is a "relevant public authority" for the purposes of Part 3.
	Subsection (3) establishes that, in this Part, a "designated senior officer" of a public authority listed in column 1 of the table means an individual who either holds the office, rank or position specified in column 2 of the table, or (subject to subsections (5) and (6)) an office, rank or position which is higher than the level specified in the table. Examples include a police Superintendent in a police force or an immigration inspector in the Home Office.
	Subsections (4) and (5) make clear that where column 2 of the table specifies a designated senior officer by reference to a particular branch, agency, or other part of an authority, or particular function of the authority, then only individuals who hold the specified office, rank, or position in that part of the authority, or who have responsibility for those functions, may act as the "designated senior officer". An example is a manager in the security group of the National Offender Management Service responsible for intelligence.
	Subsection (7) deals with cases where an individual is a designated senior officer by virtue of more than one entry in the table. For example, a chief Superintendent in a police force will be a designated senior officer by virtue of being a higher rank than an Inspector, and by virtue of being a higher rank than a Superintendent. Subsection (7) ensures that he can do both what an Inspector can do and what a Superintendent can do.