Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with hon. Members from Sinn Fein and the SDLP on the National Crime Agency in Northern Ireland.

The Government continues to fully support the Northern Ireland Justice Minister, who is leading discussions with the parties, to try to secure full operating powers for the National Crime Agency in Northern Ireland. Home Office Ministers have regular discussions with Ministerial colleagues and others. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.

The Director General of the National Crime Agency has also given his full support to these negotiations and has met with some of the political partiesand appeared before the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

We are committed to resolving this so that the people and communities of Northern Ireland can benefit from the full range of the National Crime Agency’s capabilities, like the rest of the United Kingdom.