Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the Answers of 4 September 2014, to UIN numbers 207794, 207797 and 207798, who the individual members of the On-The-Runs Policy Oversight Board will be; and if she will make a statement.

The OTR Policy Oversight Board was established to address the issues raised by the Hallett Report. It is chaired by NIO Permanent Secretary, Sir Jonathan Stephens. NIO officials and Legal Advisers, the Attorney General’s Office, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Home Office are represented. The Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service are a consultee to the group, and the Department of Justice are an observer to the group. The Metropolitan Police/ACPO and the Crown Prosecution Service are invited as needed.

The Board does not in any way impact on the operational independence of the police and prosecuting authorities, or the complete independence of decision-making by those authorities.

Having consulted with the independent police and prosecuting authorities, my statement of 9 September was the approach which represented the fairest, promptest and most effective way to reduce the risk to future prosecutions and to provide the clarity called for in the Hallett Report.

I have placed a copy of the Terms of Reference of this group in the House Library.