Written question asked by Robert Flello (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 Hazel Blears (Labour) on Tuesday, 29 November 2005 on behalf of the Home Office.

Steven John Toplass

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether national guidelines were in place at the time of Steven John Toplass's arrest in February 2004 to ensure that appropriate national law enforcement authorities through whose territories a UK-initiated and supervised controlled delivery would pass were made aware of its existence before the cargo concerned was loaded, with particular reference to Spain.

Answer: UK agencies engaged in controlled deliveries have standard operating procedures which provide operational guidelines. In addition operational service level agreements exist between relevant UK agencies and overseas partners to govern such operations. These agreements ensure that such operations are only undertaken with the agreement of appropriate authorities within the UK and with the agreement of appropriate national law enforcement authorities in the countries to which the cargo will pass. A European Union manual on controlled deliveries also exists. This manual provides details of the practices and procedures for controlled delivery operations in European Union countries. All these measures were in place in February 2004.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 440 c469-70W;440 c469-70W; 29518
Session: 2005-06
Subjects: Cooperation Custodial treatment EU countries Law and order Spain Toplass, Steven
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk