§ The Earl of Sandwichasked Her Majesty's Government:
What attempts have been made to harmonise police and special branch interrogation methods within the European Union, and especially between the United Kingdom, France and Belgium; and with what results. [HL1289]
§ Lord FilkinPolicing methods such as interviewing techniques are the responsibility of individual member states of the European Union and are not the subject of approximation measures. Furthermore, the differing systems of policing in place within individual member states would make any such harmonisation difficult. Different approaches are however no bar to the effective police co-operation which is already in place across the European Union, including the exchange of information obtained during police22WA investigations and exchange of best practice between police forces. Co-operation between police forces will be further enhanced by the provisions of the Crime (International Co-operation) Bill.