Councils deny snooping over school places (From This is Hampshire)

Councils deny snooping over school places

2:07pm Saturday 12th April 2008

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HAMPSHIRE councils have denied using snooping powers to check up on parents over school admissions.

Southampton City Council and Hampshire County Council distanced themselves from Poole civic bosses who admitted using the tactic on three occasions to check whether children were living within school catchment areas.

Yesterday Poole council said it would continue spying after it emerged an undercover officer had made a detailed log of an innocent family's daily activities without their knowledge for more than two weeks.

The council was using powers under the Regulation of Investigator Powers Act, introduced in 2000 partly on the grounds of improving national security. Evidence can be used in criminal proceedings.

The civil rights group Liberty called the spying "disproportionate" and "intrusive", while Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman and Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne called for council powers to be "reined back and restricted to important cases."

The Hampshire councils, including Eastleigh and New Forest, said they restricted their use of surveillance powers to exposing benefits cheats and to test purchasing.

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