Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the effect on the ability of police to identify criminals following the European Parliament’s decision to reject the European Council’s proposal to allow the UK to participate in the automated searching of fingerprint data stored in the EU’s Prum DNA database.

UK Police forces are already identifying criminals as a result of the UK’s connection to Prüm DNA exchanges. Since joining Prüm in July last year, the UK’s connection to Prüm has led to tens of thousands of DNA profiles being matched in the UK and across EU Member States, advancing law enforcement investigations in the UK and the EU.

We are ready to begin sharing fingerprints with EU Member States and next steps are with the European Commission to determine when the UK can begin to exchange fingerprint data via Prüm.

The vote in the European Parliament does not affect our ability to continue to participate in DNA exchanges with EU Member States on a reciprocal basis. We are committed to cooperation that keeps our citizens safe.