Surveillance powers to counter terrorism will be used to track absent parents who fail to pay child support, the Government said yesterday.

Officials will be allowed access to telephone and e-mail information stored by telephone companies and internet service providers. The powers will also be given to officials in Northern Ireland to help to identify who is dumping hazardous waste.

Staff at the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission will be given the powers under Home Office reforms intended to limit surveillance by local councils.

The measures, under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa), will allow officials to locate and prosecute an estimated 5,000 non-resident parents who disappear after failing to make payments to support their children. They will also be used against parents who make payments but who are suspected of lying about their wealth.

A spokesman for the commission said: “The Child Support Agency has recently made strong progress with more parents paying maintenance than ever before. There is, however, a small minority of people who are prepared to resort to fraud and deception to dodge their financial responsibility for their children.

“These powers will be used solely in cases where criminal behaviour is strongly suspected. It will never be our policy to snoop on honest, law-abiding parents.”

Investigators will be given access to communications data that will show who the target is speaking to on the phone or contacting by e-mail but not the content of calls and messages.

Officials estimate that extending the powers will lead to £40 extra a week being handed over to children who get little or no support.

A Home Office spokesman said that the commission would lose existing powers to follow people and take photographs of them. The new proposal did not appear in official documents released yesterday but the spokesman said that it would be part of measures put before Parliament.

“We are determined to make sure Ripa powers are used effectively, proportionately and where they are most needed,” the spokesman said.

“That is why we today have proposed removing powers to use covert human intelligence from the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission and only give it access to the least intrusive types of communications data to track absent parents suspected of committing a criminal offence.”

The measures are among proposals intended to stop Ripa powers being used for “trivial” matters such dog fouling and littering. Under the plans, council officials at director level or above will have to approve the use of covert powers. Councillors will monitor the use of the measures at least every three months.

The Home Office has rejected extending powers to social landlords or to allow individuals to be told when they have been the subject of covert surveillance.

David Hanson, the Police Minister, said: “We made it clear that we would not tolerate the misuse of Ripa and these new measures show that we are taking the necessary action to stop the small number of cases where this has happened.

“There is no doubt that a wide range of public authorities need to be able to authorise surveillance under Ripa in order to protect us from those who would do us harm.”

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