Part 8: Oversight arrangements Chapter 1: Investigatory Powers Commissioner and other Judicial Commissioners Section 227: Investigatory Powers Commissioner and other Judicial Commissioners
This section establishes the office of the Investigatory Powers Commissioner, who is supported in carrying out functions by other Judicial Commissioners. No-one may be appointed as the IPC or as a Judicial Commissioner unless they have held a judicial position at least as senior as a high court judge. Appointments to these positions are made by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister may only appoint someone to the post of IPC after receiving a joint recommendation from the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, the Lord President of Scotland, the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and the Lord Chancellor. In order for the Prime Minister to appoint someone to the position of Judicial Commissioner the Investigatory Powers Commissioner must also jointly recommend the candidate. The Prime Minister must then consult the Scottish Ministers before the appointment is made. When making appointments and consulting with the Scottish Ministers the prime Minister must have regard to a memorandum of understanding agreed with the Scottish Ministers.
	To allow them to work effectively, the IPC may delegate functions to the other Judicial Commissioners. The IPC cannot delegate the duty to make a joint recommendation to the Prime Minister about the appointment of a Judicial Commissioner or the duty to appoint members to the TAP. That a function has been delegated does not prevent the IPC from exercising that function.
	Subsection 11 provides that a function that may be exercised by a Judicial Commissioner may be exercised by any Judicial Commissioner. The reason for this provision can best be explained using the example of section 25. That section requires that a Judicial Commissioner be notified when an urgent warrant has been issued and that the Commissioner must then do certain things. This subsection means that where a particular Judicial Commissioner is informed that an urgent warrant has been issued, the resulting tasks can be performed by any of the Judicial Commissioners. This subsection is subject to the exception that certain functions can only be performed by the IPC or by a Judicial Commissioner to whom the IPC has chosen to delegate specific functions.
	The IPC is a Judicial Commissioner, so where the Act or these Explanatory Notes refers to a Judicial Commissioner this includes the IPC.