24. Third supplementary memorandum
submitted by the Home Office
Following my appearance before the Home Affairs
Committee on 20 February I wrote to you on 27 February to provide
additional information on a number of queries raised by the Committee
in the context of its inquiry into JHA in the EU. I understand
that there are a couple of further questions that you would like
me to address.
What is the "wide-ranging review looking
at data collection, data exchange and all of these issues".
Could you please clarify what this review is, what its scope is,
and when you expect it to report?
The review announced by the Home Secretary will
consider how information about criminality is recorded and shared
both within the UK and between the UK and other countries as well
as how such information is used to protect the public. The Home
Secretary wrote on 16 January to the Prime Minister and Cabinet
colleagues about the proposed review of information on criminality
and how it might be handled. That letter set out the draft terms
of reference for the review as follows:
"To thoroughly examine and recommend necessary
improvements for recording and sharing information about criminality
within the UK and between the UK and other countries; and to the
way in which this information is used to protect the public and
the relevant procedures and responsibilities."
The review will be led by a high profile and
independent individual from outside the Home Office. The Home
Secretary wants the review to be brisk but has not pre-judged
the timescale until the work has been properly scoped."
Has the UK implemented the EAW with higher protections
than other Member States, and if so what evaluation has the Government
put in place to see what the effects are?
There are a small number of additional bars
to extradition introduced by the Extradition Act 2003 (eg extraneous
conditions and passage of time) that appear to go beyond the bars
set out in the Framework Decision on the EAW. However, these reflect
provisions contained in the preamble to the Framework Decision
(in paragraph 12) and therefore do not, in our view, go beyond
the terms of the Framework Decision. The UK has also explicitly
referred in its legislation to human rights protections and the
Hostage-Taking Convention which other Member States are also bound
by even though they are not explicitly referred to in the Framework
Decision.
There is no formal Government evaluation in
place to see what the effects are. However, officials are in regular
contact with the CPS and SOCA so that they can be made aware of
any issues/difficulties in relation to the operation of the EAW
in the UK and can then take action where necessary.
Separately all Member States are being evaluated
on their operation of the EAW as part of the fourth round of Mutual
Evaluation of Member States' Operation of the EAW The UK was evaluated
in December last year and we expect the final UK report to be
issued by the EU in the summer, which we will deposit for Parliamentary
scrutiny.
Joan Ryan MP
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office
20 March 2007
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