Foreign Office fails to tell SOCA about British criminals convicted abroad

Following on from my post yesterday where a response to written questions by David Davis revealed that the Foreign office must have also known about British citizens convicted abroad, another question was put by David Davis asking how many times the Consular services had made referrals to the Serious and Organised Crime Agency of British prisoners released or deported from abroad in the last 12 months, and each of the last five years.

The response from Kim Howells was to refer David Davis to a previous written answer given to the Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesman, Nick Clegg on January 15th this year which simply stated,

If we become aware, either through providing consular assistance or notification from the local authorities, that a British national has been convicted of a serious crime overseas, we notify the Serious Organised Crime Agency, which is a non-departmental body of the Home Office.

Not exactly an answer to the "how many" part of David Davis's question is it? It might even lead some to think the Foreign Office has failed to follow it's own procedure? Terribly cynical of me I know, but given the Police caution says "it may harm your defence if you fail to mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court", I don't see why I can't apply the same rules here.