§ Lady HermonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to extend the Child Rescue Alert scheme to Northern Ireland. [150681]
§ Jane KennedyThe PSNI are currently examining how best to further develop policy in this area. They currently operate the child safety scheme in conjunction with Tescos and NSPCC and focuses mainly on shopping centres. They have looked at extending this initiative and as part of that research have considered the Child Alert Scheme and the Amber Scheme in the USA. In addition, the PSNI are also assessing a scheme based on phone texting called TEXTUS that could be used to alert all individuals who have a mobile telephone about missing children.
I understand that decisions on the way forward will be reached by the PSNI in the near future.