Written question asked by Colin Challen (Labour) on Monday, 14 November 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 16 November 2005. It was answered by Tony McNulty (Labour) on Tuesday, 22 November 2005 on behalf of the Home Office.

Visa Waiver Programme

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what time limits apply to information about minor convictions of UK citizens given to United States' authorities under their Visa Waiver programme.

Answer: The UK does not provide the US authorities with criminal conviction information for visa application or similar purposes. Under the Data Protection Act 1984 an individual is entitled to obtain his criminal record details. It is a matter for the individual whether to disclose the information in support of a visa application or similar purpose.Criminal conviction information is drawn from the Police National Computer (PNC). All offences that might attract a prison sentence on conviction are recorded centrally together with about 50 more minor, non-imprisonable offences. The time limits for retaining such information on the PNC are in accordance with the current ACPO ““weeding”” rules.

Secondary information