Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times she or Ministers in her Department have met their counterparts in the (a) Welsh Government, (b) Scottish Government and (c) Northern Ireland Executive to discuss the provisions of the Counter-Terrorism Bill.

The Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill is an urgently-needed response to the increased terrorist threat. It therefore relates to the matters of counter-terrorism and national security, which are reserved, non-devolved or excepted matters.

The Home Office is having ongoing discussions, at both Ministerial and official level, with the Devolved Administrations on the measures within the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill. I have spoken and written to Ministers in the Welsh Assembly Government, Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive. On Monday 15 December, the Prime Minister chaired the Joint Ministerial Committee, attended by the First Ministers of each Devolved Administration, at which the Bill was discussed.

Consultation with colleagues in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland continues, particularly in relation to the measures in Part 5 of the Bill (‘Risk of being drawn into terrorism’).