To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the Assets Recovery Agency.

The Assets Recovery Agency came formally into being on 13 January 2003, and its Director, Jane Earl, took up post on 3 February 2003, as did her Assistant Director for Northern Ireland, Alan McQuillan. I have signed a commencement order to bring the Agency's powers of civil recovery, taxation, investigations and data sharing into force on 24 February 2003, and the criminal confiscation provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, which include powers for the Director, will come into force on 24 March 2003.

Jane Earl and her staff will have my full support in their efforts to reduce crime. They will do this by making sure that those in our communities who seek to live off of the misery and suffering caused by crime are not allowed to enjoy their ill-gotten gains.