EU Justice and Home Affairs

Home Department written question – answered at on 11 November 2013.

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Photo of Jacob Rees-Mogg Jacob Rees-Mogg Conservative, North East Somerset

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department

(1) what the cost to the public purse has been in each of the last five years of UK compliance with Council Decision 2008/852/JHA;

(2) what measures (a) the EU, (b) other EU member states and (c) the UK have taken to prevent and combat corruption in each of the last five years as a result of UK participation in Council Decision 2008/852/JHA; and what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of such measures in preventing and combating corruption;

(3) how many times in the last five years, as a result of Article 3 of Council Decision 2008/852/JHA, representatives of UK authorities have met other members of the network established by that Council Decision; and what the outcome of each such meeting has been;

(4) whether the Government would seek to continue co-operation and information exchange with other EU member states and EU bodies that was the same in content as that which currently occurs as a result of Council Decision 2008/852/JHA if the UK ceases to be bound by that Decision pursuant to Article 10 of the Protocol on Transitional Provisions annexed to the EU treaties; how this co-operation and information exchange would then be conducted; and what assessment she has made of whether this would be at least as efficacious as UK participation in the Council Decision.

Photo of James Brokenshire James Brokenshire The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department

Figures for the cost of UK compliance with Council Decision 2008/852/JHA are not held centrally.

The Government is not in a position to state what measures the EU or other EU member states have taken to prevent and combat corruption as a result of UK participation in the Council Decision. The Government recently published its Serious and Organised Crime Strategy, which set out a range of activity it is taking to strengthen the policy and operational response to corruption.

Article 3(2) of the Decision states that “the members of the network shall, for the accomplishment of their tasks, meet at least once a year”. Information on how many times in the last five years representatives of UK authorities have met other members of the network established by Council Decision 2008/852/JHA, and the outcome of those meetings, is not held centrally.

The Government is committed to co-operating with EU partners to share best practice on combating corruption, but this need not occur under the heading of the “network against corruption”. The Government could continue co-operation and information exchange with the EU and other member states to combat corruption through the National Crime Agency and other agencies if required. The Government believes that alternatives will be at least as efficacious as the existing practice mandated by the Council Decision.

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