Clause 48
Policing and Crime Bill
12:30 pm
Vernon Coaker (Minister of State (Policing, Crime & Security), Home Office; Gedling, Labour)
The hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon’s comment about two lawyers with two different opinions made me laugh. That often happens, unfortunately. As always, it depends on which one is listened to and agreed with.
I shall make a couple of specific remarks and finish with some general points. Starting with the section on extradition, we all accept the need for extradition but it should be proportionate. I will say with respect to the later amendments on this that it is done in a proportionate way consistent with human rights legislation. We all agree with that. I was struck by the fact that both Liberty and the Bar Council saw nothing in the proposed new section that they regarded as a “titanic battle”—I think those were the words used. The debates around extradition and the fact that we have carefully tried to put improvements in the Bill, including clause 48, to improve how it works rather than to make huge changes were reflected in the fact that neither Liberty nor the Bar Council saw huge issues in this part of the Bill. I gently remind the hon. Gentleman of that important fact.
The hon. Member for Hornchurch asked how many additional arrests we thought there might be as a consequence of the measure. In 2007, 504 EAW arrests were made in the UK. As he said, Interpol or SOCA currently alert the UK to EAWs. It is estimated that the UK receives only about half of all EAW alerts, which is concerning. It is understood that alerts on the Schengen information system will have increased by 250 per cent. between 2006 and 2010, which is fairly significant. The estimated rise of 1,200 additional arrests is based on a range of data, including an EU paper on SIS growth. Therefore, we expect a significant increase in arrests as a result of becoming part of the SIS II. As we have talked about on other matters, providing it is done with due process, it should mean that we can help to catch criminals and stop them avoiding justice by moving across boundaries.
The hon. Gentleman asked about reciprocal arrangements. Arrangements are reciprocal and we receive and send EAW requests by e-mail.