Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her speech of 24 June 2014 at the Mansion House, in how many of the 13 threat-to-life cases which had to be dropped by the National Crime Agency because of missing communications data in which a child was assessed to be at risk of imminent harm those children are still at risk.

Communications data is a vital tool needed by law enforcement agencies to investigate crime, protect the public and ensure national security. These
agencies’ capability to access this data when it is needed is degrading as a result of rapidly changing technology. The figures quoted in the speech at
Mansion House on 24 June demonstrate the impact that capability gaps are having on investigations.

With reference to the 13 incidents involving children, these cases could not be pursued because the data needed to identify them from their activities online was not available. The current status of these children is therefore unknown. Where the Single Point of Contact in a law enforcement agency knows that data is not held by the service provider in question, they will not process a request for the data in the first place (as it would not be an appropriate use of their powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000).