DM-11 Response Accepted

IPCO inspections of informant policies

Recommendation

The Panel is concerned that the policies and procedures relating to the use of informants by law enforcement agencies still allow scope for corrupt practices, and it recommends that the Investigatory Powers Commissioner takes this into consideration during inspections.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
Government response: Accepted. No public evidence of delivery has been found.
Sources
Government response (2023-06-22): Accepted Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-the-daniel-morgan-report/government-response-to-the-report-of-the-daniel-morgan-independent-panel Text: The Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office (IPCO) independently oversees the use of these powers and conducts annual inspections to ensure compliance by law enforcement agencies. Experienced inspectors will also carry out further ad hoc inspections as required, should particular concerns arise, Progress update (2023-06-22): In Progress Status as of Government Response (June 2023): In Progress Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-the-daniel-morgan-report
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by baseline-data-v1 on 26 May 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.gov.uk
Jurisdiction
England
Section Reference
Volume 1
Response
Accepted
Accepted Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office
22 Jun 2023

The Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office (IPCO) independently oversees the use of these powers and conducts annual inspections to ensure compliance by law enforcement agencies. Experienced inspectors will also carry out further ad hoc inspections as required, should particular concerns arise, and overall findings are reported publicly in IPCO's Annual Report. Handling the risks associated with the use of CHIS is a key focus for IPCO. Inspections include interviews with those in handler and controller roles and detailed scrutiny of the paperwork around the authorisation and management of CHIS, to ensure that risks are properly understood and mitigated by individual agencies. The new Code of Practice on CHIS was published on 13 December 2022 and the relevant guidance and manuals are currently being updated accordingly.

Read Full Response
Published Evidence

Published assessments of progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Source type badge indicates whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.

Confirmed Completed
13 Dec 2022
IPCO Other

The Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021 provided a new statutory framework. A new Code of Practice for CHIS was published 13 December 2022. IPCO confirmed that handling risks associated with CHIS use is a 'key focus' of its annual inspections of law enforcement agencies.

View detailed findings

CHIS framework overhauled through the 2021 Act and 2022 Code of Practice. IPCO oversight of informant policies is ongoing as recommended.

Government response and CHIS Code of Practice, De… View Source
Source
Inquiry Daniel Morgan Panel
Report The Report of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel 15 Jun 2021
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office Primary
Themes & Tags
Police institutional racism CHIS Informants Oversight
Recommendation age 5.0 yrs
Last formal update 1074 days ago