Security Minister Dan Jarvis addressed the Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office (IPCO) conference in London with a keynote, according to the text published by GOV.UK. He used the occasion to mark ten years of the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), which became law in 2016.
Powers and their use
Jarvis said the idea behind the Act has "stood the test of time". Looking at one power, the targeted acquisition of communications data, he said more than 350,000 requests were authorised in 2025. By his account, over 50,000 concerned violence against the person, nearly as many concerned sexual offences, and over 100,000 concerned drugs offences.
He also described a recent prosecution of a man who plotted an attack on the Jewish community. According to Jarvis, police searches turned up instructions for making mustard gas, along with a crossbow and a combat-style knife. He said material obtained through the UK's Data Access Agreement with the United States, which relies on powers Lord Leveson oversees, helped establish that the man had shared extreme terrorist content and voiced a wish to commit an attack. The man received a life sentence in January after being convicted, Jarvis said.
Oversight and transparency
The minister paid tribute to the current Commissioner, Lord Leveson, to his predecessor Sir Adrian Fulford and to IPCO staff. He said the Commissioner is "no rubber stamp" and that inspectors continually check whether public bodies within IPCO's remit, the Home Office among them, comply with the rules. Jarvis said the Commissioner's annual report matters because this work must be seen to be done.
He recalled that the legislation arrived amid political controversy, mainly over the bulk powers regulated in parts 6 and 7, which are available only to the intelligence services. He said much of that criticism was unfounded, noting that the then Shadow Home Secretary, speaking for the Labour opposition at second reading, rejected the idea that the Act was a snooper's charter or a blueprint for mass surveillance. Jarvis also referred to Lord David Anderson's report "A Question of Trust", which led to the Act.
International cooperation and the future
Jarvis thanked the United States, the counterparty to the Data Access Agreement, along with fellow Five Eyes members, G7 partners including the European Commission, and Sweden. He said the UK and Sweden would host the second International Symposium on Lawful Access in Stockholm the following week.
Looking ahead, he said developments such as AI, together with an ever-escalating threat picture, mean the framework will need to stay under constant review. He said the government expects communications providers, wherever they are based, not to offer a way of hiding from justice. He closed by saying that security and democracy are indivisible.
