Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the concerns over the lack of powers of the National Crime Agency (NCA) in Northern Ireland in paragraph 25 of the report on the UK by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child; and if she will take steps to support making the NCA fully operational in Northern Ireland.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) operates UK-wide but as a result of not securing legislative consent the activities of the NCA in Northern Ireland are restricted. Under current arrangements the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is able to access information and advice from the NCA including from its Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Command. What is missing, however, is access to operational support.

This government is disappointed by the decision of the Northern Ireland Executive not to agree to give NCA officers police powers. However, policing is devolved in Northern Ireland, and this is something we must respect. We continue to support Northern Ireland Justice Minister David Ford’s efforts to secure full operational powers for the NCA under appropriate accountability arrangements tailored to Northern Ireland’s structures.