HC Deb 12 November 1987 vol 122 cc209-10W
Mr. Gorst

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what general guidance Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary has given to chief officers following the request to him by the Home Secretary last July to consider whether any guidance was needed, in the light of the use by Swedish authorities of information supplied to them on the case of Captain Simon Hayward on a police-to-police basis, but used in proceedings in open court.

Mr. Hurd

I expect to receive the advice of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary shortly and will then consider what, if any, general guidance to chief officers is needed.

Mr. Gorst

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the practice for officers interviewing suspects held in foreign countries on signing confirmatory memoranda regarding hearsay information relating to those suspects; and on whose authority the officers who did so after interviewing Captain Simon Hayward on 11 June signed such a memorandum.

Mr. Hurd

Subject to the requirements of the law, the question of whether and, if so, how to disclose to others (including police forces in other countries) information held by the police is a matter for the appropriate chief officer; and he is responsible for the actions of his officers. The officers referred to by my hon. Friend are members of the Metropolitan police.

Mr. Gorst

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will review the arrangements for police-to-police liaison with Nordic countries following the attendance of the London-based Norwegian police official at the trial of Captain Simon Hayward in Stockholm, contrary to the wishes of the head of the national drugs intelligence unit.

Mr. Hurd

Liaison officers have an important part to play in promoting the effective international co-operation which is essential to combat drug trafficking. The liaison officer representing the Nordic countries is a properly accredited official with full diplomatic status. His attendance at Captain Hayward's trial in Stockholm was not a matter on which any authority in this country would be expected to express a view. I am not persuaded of the need for review of liaison arrangements with the Nordic countries.