Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what improvements have been made by the ACRO Criminal Records Office on access to overseas convictions of UK nationals convicted abroad.

The UK’s participation in the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS) since 2012 means that EU Member States are now obligated to notify the UK each time a UK national is convicted of a criminal offence in another state.

In the last two years, the UK has agreed twelve bilateral agreements with countries outside the EU to improve the exchange of criminal records information (Jamaica, UAE, Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos, Antigua and Barbuda, Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and St Kitts and Nevis). The UK also receives conviction information on UK nationals with countries on an ad-hoc basis via Interpol.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office also notifies the ACRO Criminal Records Office when a UK national is subject to criminal proceedings overseas for a serious offence and seeks consular assistance. ACRO have also gained access to the OTRCIS system (Overseas Territory Regional Crime Intelligence System) so that they can now access convictions of British passport holders living in the British Overseas Territories).