Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she will take to mitigate the effect of the loss of access to the European criminal databases in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

My Department continues to work closely with operational partners and engage with EU Member States to prepare for our departure from the EU in October.

If necessary, we will be ready to transition our cooperation with EU Member States to alternative, non-EU arrangements where available.

Broadly speaking, this would mean making more use of Interpol, Council of Europe instruments and other forms of co-operation with European partners, such as bilateral channels.

Whilst these alternative arrangements are not like-for-like replacements, they are largely tried and tested mechanisms that we already use for cooperating with many non-EU countries.

The UK will continue to be one of the safest countries in the world in the event of no deal.