"[4] The Independent Reviewer has no permanent staff but has a budget for the assistance of part-time Special Advisers, and administrative help provided or paid for by the Home Office.
The power to set up a Privacy and Civil Liberties Board under the direction and control of the Independent Reviewer was passed into law under the Coalition Government[5] but has not been brought into force.
On 11 September 2001, a few hours before the attacks on the World Trade Center, Lord Carlile of Berriew CBE QC was appointed as the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.
As of May 2019, Jonathan Hall QC was appointed by the Home Secretary as the new Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.
As Independent Reviewer, David Anderson QC was credited by both Government and opposition front benches with significantly influencing their positions on the legislation that became the Justice and Security Act 2013.
[13] His reports and evidence to Parliament also influenced the law governing TPIMs, which was reformulated following his confidential report of September 2014 to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister,[14] the scope of the power to stop and detain travellers under Schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000,[15][16] and the practice of asset-freezing.
[17][18] "A Question of Trust", his June 2015 report on the future of surveillance laws,[19] had a major influence on the Government's draft Investigatory Powers Bill of November 2015, and has been described as "the turning point that policymakers have looked for and missed ever since 9/11.