Written question asked by Lindsay Hoyle (Labour) on Tuesday, 13 January 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 15 January 2009. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Tuesday, 24 February 2009 on behalf of the Home Office.

National Security

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of the appropriateness of the current official threat level.

Answer: The current threat level for international terrorism is set at SEVERE.The Home Office do not make any assessments into the threat level. The threat level for international terrorism is assessed and set by the joint terrorism analysis centre (JTAC). The Security Service is responsible for assessing the level and nature of the threat arising from domestic terrorism, principally the Irish-related terrorist threat.More information on how the threat level is assessed can be found on the JTAC website at:"http://www.intelligence.gov.uk/threat_levels.aspx"

Secondary information