Part 1: Bulk Personal Datasets Third party bulk personal datasets New section 226GC of the IPA 2016: Decisions to issue warrants to be taken personally by Secretary of State
This section specifies the Secretary of State must make the decision to issue a 3PD warrant personally. The Secretary of State must also sign the 3PD warrant unless it is not reasonably practicable to do so.
	If the Secretary of State cannot sign the warrant, it may be signed by a senior official instead (i.e., a member of the Senior Civil Service or a member of the Senior Management Structure of His Majesty’s Diplomatic Service – see section 226IE). In these cases, the warrant must contain a statement that (a) it is not reasonably practicable for the warrant to be signed by the Secretary of State, and (b) the Secretary of State has personally and expressly authorised the issue of the warrant.