To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions staff of the UK Border Agency accessed the Eurodac database in (a) 2008 and (b) each of the first three months of 2009. (269179)

The latest published data for the United Kingdom's transactions with the Eurodac database are for 2007 and can be found in the European Commission's Annual Report to the Council and the European Parliament on the activities of the Eurodac Central Unit. This report can be accessed at:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?=COM:2009:0013:FIN:EN:PDF

and a copy will be placed in the House Library.

Information for 2008 and 2009 will be published in the annual reports for these years.