Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to the comments by the Executive Director of Europol that the UK will face “impediments” to receiving high-quality information after Brexit; and how they will ensure that high levels of cooperation with EU law enforcement are maintained.

The Government’s future partnership paper on security, law enforcement and criminal justice published on 18 September 2017 set out how the UK is seeking a future relationship with the EU and its Member States that provides for practical operational cooperation; facilitates data driven law enforcement; and supports multilateral cooperation through EU agencies.

We continue to value our cooperation and information sharing through measures such as the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), Europol, the European Criminal Record Information System (ECRIS) and the Schengen Information System (SIS II) in our efforts to fight cross-border crime and terrorism.

The UK has been instrumental in developing the tools which the EU now has at its disposal and in working together with international partners on these issues. We want this to continue in a way that works for the UK and for Europe.

We are confident that continued, practical cooperation between the UK and EU on law enforcement and security is in the interests of both sides. This includes cooperation through Europol, and is consistent with the Europol Executive Director’s observation that the UK is in the top three Member States that contribute intelligence each day to the different Europol databases, and exchanges five times as much information with Europol as the US, and seven times more than Denmark.

We therefore approach negotiations anticipating that an agreement in this area can be reached, and agree with the Executive Director of Europol as regards the desirability of preserving as much operational cooperation as possible.