Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the Government's policy is on whether a person should be permitted to erase data remotely while a digital device is being examined by the police or during any other lawful investigation in England and Wales.
The investigation of criminal offences is an operational matter for the police. However, where evidential material, including data held on digital devices, has been seized for the purpose of investigating an offence, any attempt to tamper with, or erase, the material is likely to amount to an offence of perverting the course of justice.