To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many telephone lines on the same number an interception can be made when he authorises a warrant under the Interception of Communications Act 1985.

The scope of warrants issued under the Interception of Communications Act 1985 is governed by section 3 of that Act. It does not specify the number of lines on the same telephone number which may be the subject of a warrant.

How many phone taps did the Home Secretary authorise last year? Does he agree that a court warrant should be obtained before each phone is tapped? Will he undertake to have a Select Committee consider the issue of phone tapping in general?

The figures are announced in the annex to the 1990 report of the Interception Commissioner which was published earlier this year. Some 515 warrants were in force on 31 December 1990 or issued during the course of the year and 68 were issued on the authority of the Secretary of State for Scotland. The Act requires that I issue a warrant only in particular well-defined circumstances and the use of that power is subject to review by the Interception Commissioner, who can look into the circumstances of each individual case. His report is published and is a public document, as this one was, and that is an appropriate and sensible method of regulation.