"Historically, many private investigators were ex-forces or former policemen, but this is changing. The total number of people working in the sector is unclear."

By "the sector" do you mean the IT investigators or are you talking about private investigation as a whole? If the latter, the question is, does the UK not license them? I can tell you exactly how many there are in Tejas. And name names.

After all, isn't Media Sentry being sued in Tejas because they aren't licensed to operate here?

all the PI's

sorry, its been a pants day

... that "e-LEGAL | Gathering" is pronounced "illegal gathering"?

In the UK, licensing of PI's has not started yet. The SIA (Security Industry Authority) has still way to go before licensing is brought in. As a result there is no way of knowing how many PI's are operating in the UK.

Yes. It's a play on words. Thank you for noticing.