Select committee: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
Recommendation 11
Fourth Report - Cross-border co-operation on policing, security and criminal justice after Brexit
Published 28 Apr 2021
Paragraph 81
Addressed to Northern Ireland Executive; Northern Ireland Office
Northern Ireland Affairs Committee Cross-border co-operation on policing, security and criminal justice after Brexit All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
It is positive that the Government has negotiated successfully an agreement with the EU to provide for reciprocal access to biometric data (and in the future vehicle registration data) of suspected criminals. That will help UK law enforcement agencies and law enforcement agencies in connected EU Member States to identify terrorists and organised criminals. The Government should set out if, and how, it plans to use these arrangements to co-operate on sharing biometric data with Ireland in particular.
From: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, Fourth Report - Cross-border co-operation on policing, security and criminal justice after Brexit (HC 766), paragraph 81, 28 April 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 5 July 2021 (deadline 28 June 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government response sets out how the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) arrangements operate and says it will "take steps to address any issues should they arise", while giving a mostly non-committal reply on several recommendations.
- On the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, the government says it was convened on 24 June 2021 in Dublin, and "It was agreed that the next BIIGC should take place in London in November."
- On inviting Northern Ireland Executive representatives to the Specialised Committee, the government says it values their perspective, but "final discretion in any specific instance as regards attendance would be held by the UK co-chair".
- On a review of extradition after two years, the response does not commit to one. It says it will "continue to work closely" with partners to monitor the arrangements and "take steps to address any issues should they arise".
- On a Northern Ireland centre of excellence, the government says it "looks forward to reviewing any proposed plans" from the PSNI, the Department of Justice and other agencies.