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The information was revealed in a report presented by the Interception of Communications Commissioner, Sir Paul Kennedy, who discovered that requests for information on private telephone calls and emails in 2007 amounted to more than 1,400 a day, or 519,260 over the course of the year.

The figure represents a dramatic increase on the 350,000 average in the previous two years.

Despite the increase, Kennedy believes "local authorities could make much more use of communications data as a powerful tool to investigate crime."

However, a separate report by Chief Surveillance Commissioner Sir Christopher Rose criticised councils for displaying "a lack of understanding of the legislation" and displaying a "serious misunderstanding of the concept of proportionality" referring to incidents of local authorities snooping to deal with offences such as fly tipping.