Investigatory Powers Commissioner (IPC) Functions IPC’s oversight functions
The incumbent IPC, Sir Brian Leveson, has expressed the value of the role’s non-statutory functions being placed on a formal statutory footing. In line with this, the Government has included a measure in the Act to increase transparency in IPC’s oversight, by amending s.229 of the IPA 2016 to place the IPC’s oversight of compliance by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) onto a statutory footing. The IPC currently provides oversight of the MoD’s overseas covert human intelligence sources (CHIS) and surveillance operations on a non-statutory basis. This oversight is carried out at the request of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), and a similar form of oversight has been provided in the form of annual inspections by IPCO’s predecessors since at least 2005. The measure does not give the MoD or the IPC any new powers; however, it does formalise this agreement to increase oversight.