Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the compatibility of the current United Kingdom law with the European Union Directives on the right to information in criminal proceedings, and on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings.

The UK Government opted into these Directives, on 22 October 2010 and on 8 March 2010 respectively, and in transposing them into domestic law undertook careful analysis of the state of the existing law and whether any new measures were required to ensure compliance. As a result of this assessment, in England and Wales transposition included several new legislative measures, subsequently approved by Parliament, and the Devolved Administrations made similar arrangements. A full transposition table was provided to the European Commission as is normal practice. As with all Directives, the Government keeps compliance under review.