The Government\u2019s position on the Wilson Doctrine was set out by the Prime Minister in a written ministerial statement made on 4 November 2015.<\/p>
As the Prime Minister made clear, the Wilson Doctrine has never been an absolute bar to the targeted interception of the communications of Members of Parliament or an exemption from the legal regime governing interception. The Doctrine recognised that there could be instances where interception might be necessary.<\/p>
The Prime Minister announced that as matter of policy the PM will be consulted should there ever be a proposal to target any UK Parliamentarian\u2019s communications under a warrant issued by a Secretary of State. This applies to Members of Parliament, members of the House of Lords, the Scottish Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Welsh Assembly and UK members of the European Parliament. It applies to all activity authorised by a warrant issued by a Secretary of State: any instance of targeted interception and, electronic surveillance and equipment interference, when undertaken by the Security and Intelligence Agencies. This is in addition to the rigorous safeguards already in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) and the Code of Practice issued under it which set out a series of robust safeguards for any instance of interception.<\/p>
It is long standing policy of successive Governments neither to confirm nor deny any specific activity by the Security and Intelligence Agencies. Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 it is an offence for anyone to identify an individual interception warrant or an individual interception that takes place.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/350", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir John Hayes"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South Holland and The Deepings"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr John Hayes"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2015-11-16", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "previousAnswerVersion" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/422680/answer/previousversion/25386", "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/350", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir John Hayes"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South Holland and The Deepings"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr John Hayes"} } , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2015-11-16T17:10:52.997Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2015-10-20", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Members: Surveillance"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Wilson Doctrine has been consistently applied to the communications of the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood; and whether that hon. Member or her staff have been subject to surveillance.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4510", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Helen Hayes"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Dulwich and West Norwood"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Helen Hayes"} ], "uin" : "12619"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/422836", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/422836/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
All 16-19 institutions are funded for, on average, 600 teaching hours per year per full-time student. This supports a significant programme of study: for example, three A Levels and one AS Level or a Level 3 BTEC Extended Diploma, plus around 150 hours of enrichment or tutorial activity across each two-year course.<\/p>
We do understand the financial challenges facing the sector. That is why we are launching a national programme of area reviews. The reviews will help ensure we have strong, efficient institutions that can deliver high-quality routes to employment, to ensure institutional stability and to make best use of public resources.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/3995", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Nick Boles"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Grantham and Stamford"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Nick Boles"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2015-10-26", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2015-10-26T16:53:39.323Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2015-10-20", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Further Education: Finance"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of recent changes in 16-19 funding on the (a) breadth and (b) viability of post-16 education.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4510", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Helen Hayes"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Dulwich and West Norwood"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Helen Hayes"} ], "uin" : "901786"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 2, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }