Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government what policies apply to the removal of entries on the Elmer database.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
There are 2.11 million suspicious activity reports (SARs) on the Elmer database. These SARs remain on the system either as result of ongoing activity from a law enforcement agency, or because the SAR is within the six year period for which data can be held on Elmer, in line with the ECHR and Data Protection legislation. In 2015/16 the UKFIU received over 400,000 SARs. Each SAR may include detail of the activities of a number of persons, and it is therefore not possible to determine how many nominal subjects are within the database.
Following the House of Lords European Union Committee Inquiry into Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism in July 2009, and the Information Commissioner’s review of the ELMER database in 2010, the UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) has implemented the Retention and Deletion policy for Suspicious Activity Reports. This sets the following criteria for the removal of SARs:
o If definitive feedback is received from law enforcement end users that states a SAR is not connected with criminality, that SAR is deleted.
o Otherwise, the retention period for SARs is six years from the date of submission. After that time they are automatically deleted from the SARs database (ELMER) and other derivative systems, on a rolling daily deletion programme.
o When a SAR is deleted, an audit record showing the SAR Unique Reference Number (URN), date of creation and date of deletion is retained for all SARs. This record contains no personal data, but is used to confirm, if necessary, that a SAR has been submitted.
o There are occasions when, after six years, a SAR still forms part of an on-going case, investigation or appeal and is entirely the responsibility of the end user to ensure that copies of the required SARs are transferred to the investigating agency’s ‘case record’. The data control responsibility for those records is then transferred from the NCA to that agency.
The UKFIU has access to the entire Elmer database, which includes ‘sensitive’ SARs such as those submitted on terrorism, integrity and some politically exposed persons.
SARs are only directly available to agencies with officers with powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act, or under the Terrorism Act (for terrorist finance), and only with officers who have an accreditation enabling them to see SARs. All such access is governed by user agreements at both an agency and individual level. For other organisations to qualify for access to the non-sensitive version of ELMER, they must accept the terms of ‘The Organisation Agreement for Direct Access to Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)’ which sets the objectives, responsibilities and conditions within which both the NCA and the end user must comply.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government how many Suspicious Activity Reports are outstanding on the Elmer Database.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
There are 2.11 million suspicious activity reports (SARs) on the Elmer database. These SARs remain on the system either as result of ongoing activity from a law enforcement agency, or because the SAR is within the six year period for which data can be held on Elmer, in line with the ECHR and Data Protection legislation. In 2015/16 the UKFIU received over 400,000 SARs. Each SAR may include detail of the activities of a number of persons, and it is therefore not possible to determine how many nominal subjects are within the database.
Following the House of Lords European Union Committee Inquiry into Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism in July 2009, and the Information Commissioner’s review of the ELMER database in 2010, the UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) has implemented the Retention and Deletion policy for Suspicious Activity Reports. This sets the following criteria for the removal of SARs:
o If definitive feedback is received from law enforcement end users that states a SAR is not connected with criminality, that SAR is deleted.
o Otherwise, the retention period for SARs is six years from the date of submission. After that time they are automatically deleted from the SARs database (ELMER) and other derivative systems, on a rolling daily deletion programme.
o When a SAR is deleted, an audit record showing the SAR Unique Reference Number (URN), date of creation and date of deletion is retained for all SARs. This record contains no personal data, but is used to confirm, if necessary, that a SAR has been submitted.
o There are occasions when, after six years, a SAR still forms part of an on-going case, investigation or appeal and is entirely the responsibility of the end user to ensure that copies of the required SARs are transferred to the investigating agency’s ‘case record’. The data control responsibility for those records is then transferred from the NCA to that agency.
The UKFIU has access to the entire Elmer database, which includes ‘sensitive’ SARs such as those submitted on terrorism, integrity and some politically exposed persons.
SARs are only directly available to agencies with officers with powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act, or under the Terrorism Act (for terrorist finance), and only with officers who have an accreditation enabling them to see SARs. All such access is governed by user agreements at both an agency and individual level. For other organisations to qualify for access to the non-sensitive version of ELMER, they must accept the terms of ‘The Organisation Agreement for Direct Access to Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)’ which sets the objectives, responsibilities and conditions within which both the NCA and the end user must comply.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have received from interested parties about the recent EU deactivation specification as it applies to deactivated historical firearms as defined in the Policing and Crime Bill.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The EU Implementing Regulation 2015/2403 on deactivation standards which came into force on 8 April 2016 sets new technical specifications for deactivated weapons.
Clause 114 of the Policing and Crime Bill creates a specific new offence to sell or gift a weapon that has not been deactivated to the new EU Deactivation Standard.
We have received representations from a small number of interested parties who have been concerned that the EU specification is not as effective as the previous UK standards. In addition, we were contacted by members of re-enactment and living history societies wishing to travel to France with their firearms to participate in commemorative events linked to the D-Day landings and the Battle of the Somme.
We have published guidance on the Regulation which includes requirements for additional measures for deactivated weapons brought into the UK. These measures, which go beyond the EU specification in a small number of areas, were introduced to align the requirements more closely with the previous UK standards. We have also worked with the UK Proof Houses to ensure that certification to the new standards is prioritised for re-enactors wishing to travel with their firearms.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the policy of the Metropolitan Police Service to prevent individuals who have applied to join the service and have been put into the reserve pool from applying to join other police forces.
Answered by Lord Bates
Individual police forces in England and Wales are responsible for deciding when and how they run their recruitment and selection processes. This is managed within a national application, assessment and selection framework, in line with national guidance maintained by the College of Policing.