To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 10 October 2007, Official Report, column 83W, on the European Extradition Warrant, if she will take steps to establish and maintain a record of those British nationals extradited to EU member states under a European Extradition Warrant who are subsequently found guilty; and if she will make a statement. (174165)

[holding answer 17 December 2007]: The purpose of extradition is to ensure that those accused of a crime do not avoid justice by leaving the country in which the alleged offence took place. The fugitives unit of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) processes extraditions from the UK to member states of the European Union under the European Arrest Warrant system. The involvement of SOCA finishes when the extradition case is concluded, either by the person being extradited to the requesting country or by the extradition request being dismissed. SOCA has no statutory role in the monitoring of cases post extradition.

However, information about convictions received abroad by UK citizens—whether extradition was involved or not—may be of interest to the UK police, and this information is obtained from countries of the Council of Europe (which includes all EU member states) by the UK Central Authority for the Exchange of Criminal Record information (UKCA-ECR) which is a part of the Criminal Records Office of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACRO).