MHCLG’s covert intelligence gathering for building safety investigations was ‘unauthorised’, watchdog finds

While a “substantial” amount of background information was gathered by the sources, the IPCO found that “none of it was used operationally”.

Both errors took place under Michael Gove’s tenure as housing secretary - the first in October and November 2022, and the second in April and May 2023.

The report said: “In October 2023, MHCLG reported two errors involving the unauthorised use of CHIS [covert human intelligence source] by its Recovery Strategy Unit (RSU), which was investigating non-compliance with building safety responsibilities – specifically the remediation of unsafe cladding.”

It continued: “In the two cases reported to us as errors, the external contractors were tasked by the Department to use human intelligence sources. 

“This was achieved using one or more intermediaries: individuals with a network of ‘sub-sources’ with knowledge of the relevant field; in this case, the residential leasehold industry. 

“The contractors instructed these intermediaries to gather the information sought by MHCLG. Only the contractors (i.e., the companies which MHCLG engaged) knew that their client was a Government department. 

“Neither the intermediaries nor their sub-sources were aware of this. The intermediaries used a false cover story to explain why they were seeking the information. In the first error, seven sub-sources were spoken to and, in the second, 10.”

When the errors were reported to the watchdog, MHCLG and the IPCO agreed that this activity “amounted to establishing or maintaining a relationship for a covert purpose”, under the relevant legislation.

During its investigation, the IPCO found that MHCLG “held very little information as to what activity had been carried out or the product obtained from the sub-sources, having received only a sanitised summary of key points of interest”.

The report said that at the time, MHCLG had no policies in place to ensure compliance with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA).

It concluded: “Since then, it has ceased all intelligence gathering beyond open source research and has begun developing appropriate RIPA and non-RIPA policies. 

“We note that MHCLG brought this issue to our attention swiftly and engaged with our investigation in a transparent and cooperative manner. 

“Our 2025 follow-up inspection confirmed that MHCLG has made substantial progress towards implementing all recommended actions resulting from our review.”

A spokesperson for MHCLG said: “We take these errors very seriously, which is why we swiftly referred them to the Investigatory Powers Commissioner.

“Since these incidents we have ceased all covert surveillance activities and made substantial progress in implementing all the recommendations from the IPCO review.”

Michael Gove has been contacted for comment.