Emma Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2016-03-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times the UK has requested information (a) under the Prüm convention DNA sharing, (b) relating to the European Arrest Warrant about criminal records, (c) from the EU Passenger Name Record sharing scheme, (d) from a Europol Joint Investigation Team, (e) under the Schengen Information System, (f) from Europol’s HAVEN project to combat sexual abuse and trafficking and (g) from other EU member states about stadium bans and previous offenders at football matches.
James Brokenshire
The United Kingdom is not yet connected to any other country for the sharing of DNA under the Prüm Council Decisions.
The UK shares criminal record information with Member States via the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS). In 2015, the UK made 105,164 requests for overseas criminal record checks to other EU Member States, compared to 8,536 in 2010, an increase of over 1100%.
European legislation is currently under consideration that would require EU Member States to process Passenger Name Records (PNR) on scheduled aviation flights. The proposed legislation would require the data to be analysed by a central Passenger Information Unit and all relevant and necessary PNR to be shared with the Passenger Information Units of other Member States in compliance with data protection obligations. Receiving PNR before travel allows law enforcement authorities to plan and respond proactively to threats. PNR plays a vital role in intelligence-led operations, post-incident investigations and judicial proceedings.
Joint investigation teams are Member State led processes. Europol staff may participate in a supporting capacity.
According to the EU’s Justice and Home Affairs IT Agency (eu-LISA), the UK had the following numbers of alerts active (that is, broadcast to Member States and not subsequently revoked) on 17 February 2014:
People wanted by the UK on a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) 231
Missing adults 6,121
Missing children 2,589
Wanted for judicial purposes (e.g. Witnesses to be traced) 1,884
Discreet alerts 10,438 Discreet alerts (national security) 478
Europol’s Project HAVEN – Halting Europeans Abusing Victims in Every Nation- is part of Europol’s work under Focal Point Twins. The UK participates in and exchanges information under Europol’s Focal Point Twins and the aim is to support Member States and third countries to prevent or combat the activities of criminal networks involved in the sexual exploitation of children. Operations in the UK to counter organised crime relating to Child Sexual Exploitation have been supported by Europol, and the UK exchanges information on crimes of this nature with and through Europol via our Liaison Bureau, rather than through Project HAVEN.
Between April 2014 and the end of December 2015,UK Football Policing Unit within the Home Office, the national football information point, requested information from other EU member states about stadium bans on 101 occasions. No figures are held on individual offenders with football bans.
