Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many interception warrants were (a) issued, (b) declined and (c) cancelled by his Department under (i) section 8(1) and (ii) section 8(4) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 in the last six months for which figures are available.

It is the long standing policy of successive Governments not to comment on matters of intelligence. I would refer the Hon. Member to Section 3 of the 2013 Annual Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner, The Rt Hon. Sir Anthony May, which was presented to Parliament pursuant of Section 58(6) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.