Ministers to limit council spying

Councils are routinely using anti-terror surveillance powers

Councils who use anti-terror laws to spy on members of the public could face new restrictions.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith wants new guidelines on the use the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa).

She will say councils should not use the law to snoop on people suspected of minor offences such as dog fouling or putting out rubbish on the wrong day.

But, in a speech, she will defend their right to use the powers against suspected rogue traders or fly tippers.

It comes amid growing concern local authorities and other public bodies, such as health trusts, are abusing their powers.

In a speech, Ms Smith will say she wants applications for the use of Ripa to go to the top of organisations, such as the chief executive of a council, rather than the head of trading standards or environmental health.

'Disruptive neighbours'

The home secretary is expected to say: "While the vast majority of the investigations that are carried out under RIPA are important - like protecting the public from dodgy traders, trapping fly tippers who dump tonnes of rubbish on an industrial scale across the countryside, or tackling the misery caused by noisy and disruptive neighbours - there are clearly cases where these powers should not be used.

"I don't want to see these powers being used to target people for putting their bins out on the wrong day, for dog fouling offences, or to check whether paper boys are carrying sacks that are too heavy."

Ms Smith is launching a public consultation on new guidelines for local authorities and other public bodies on the use of Ripa powers.

The police can use the powers to carry out surveillance, along with 474 local authorities in England, every fire service and NHS trust, prisons, the Environment Agency and the Royal Mail.

Most of the 519,260 applications made under the act in the past financial year were from the intelligence services and the police.

But local authorities are also routinely using the powers, with a survey in April suggesting covert surveillance had been carried out against such relatively trivial matters as dog fouling and littering.

In April this year, it emerged that Poole Borough Council in Dorset used Ripa to spy on a family for three weeks to find out if they were really living in a school catchment area.

The council said the case was treated as potential criminal activity, which justified the use of the act.

The powers also came under attack after a local council in Cambridgeshire admitted using them to spy on paperboys suspected of working without permits.