Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to ensure that the International Anti-Corruption Co-ordination Centre liaises with the Northern Ireland authorities over organised criminal activity across the land border with the Irish Republic.

At the London Anti-Corruption Summit in May 2016 the UK committed to establishing the new International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre (IACCC). The IACCC will be hosted by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) in London and will bring together specialist law enforcement officers from multiple foreign jurisdictions into a single location to coordinate the global law enforcement response to allegations of grand corruption.

The NCA leads the UK's fight to cut serious and organised crime. As officers from the NCA will be permanent members of the new IACCC any allegations of grand corruption requiring a global law enforcement response will be automatically referred to the IACCC. The IACCC does not become operational until April 2017.

You will lso be aware that as part of the Fresh Start agreement the NCA is committed to working closely with the Police Service of Northern Ireland and HM Revenue and Customs to prioritise investment in the investigative capacity to tackle criminality linked to paramilitary groups, including those in border areas, and have submitted a proposal for consideration to be part of a team with the three agencies working closely together.

Alongside the Fresh Start agreement a Joint Agency Task Force was established that is led by senior officers from PSNI and An Garda Síochána and will enhance the operational response to cross-border criminality, of which the NCA is a member.

Finally, a response to allegations of corruption in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic would not normally need to involve the IACCC as there are already strong bilateral law enforcement relationships in place. However, the NCA would consider the appropriate response to allegations of corruption in consultation with Police Service Northern Ireland in Northern Ireland and in liaison with An Garda Síochána in the Irish Republic.