Ambulance services to have access to telephone and email records

The Home Office has released for public consultation its new proposals on access to telephone and communications data, a watered down successor to the plan denounced last summer as a “snooper's charter.”

Under the initial proposals, all local councils, seven Whitehall departments, and 11 other organisations would have had complete access to telephone and email records under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) 2000. Such powers of access have previously been the exclusive domain of the police, Customs, Inland Revenue, and security services.

The new consultation paper would grant such access to just five additional agencies: the UK Atomic Energy Authority Constabulary, the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency, the Mari-time and Coastguard Agency, the fire authorities, and the ambulance services of NHS trusts. The fire and ambulance services would use the data to investigate and prosecute hoax calls.