Dear John

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. It has been passed to the relevant section within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to deal with. They will be in touch with you should your request need clarification.

We received your request on 16 February 2009 and will aim to respond within 20 working days.

Yours sincerely

Information Rights
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
email: xxxxxx.xxx@xxx.xxx.xx
... visit our blogs at http://blogs.fco.gov.uk

-----Original Message-----

From: John Brown [mailto:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx]
Sent: 16 February 2009 12:43
To: DP-FOI.IMG
Subject: Freedom of Information request - UK Central Authority for the Exchange of Criminal Records

Dear Sir or Madam,

In the European Council Decision on the exchange of information
extracted from criminal records - Manual of Procedure (5459/09) -
pages 100-103 relate to the UK Central Authority for the Exchange
of Criminal Records (UKCA-ECR). I am making a request under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Please would you provide the
following information:

(a) what was the rationale for the FCO agreeing to the nomination
of ACPO Criminal Records Office (ACRO) to perform the role of the
UKCA-ECR. {ACPO is a private limited company and not an official
government/public body)

(b) Were Ministers aware of and briefed on the legal status of ACPO
before agreeing to its nomination as the UKCA-ECR;

(c) Given that the Police National Computer is operated by NPIA (a
public agency), why was it resolved to use ACRO rather than NPIA to
be the UKCA-ECR;

(d) What are the estimated annual costs of the UKCA-ECR, how are
these costs covered and which Ministry/Department is responsible
for paying them;

(e) Is the provision of the UKCA-ECR service by ACRO undertaken
under a contract and if so which Ministry/Department placed the
contract.

Yours faithfully,

John Brown

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