Written question asked by Grant Shapps (Conservative) on Friday, 17 November 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 21 November 2006. It was answered by Joan Ryan (Labour) on Monday, 8 January 2007 on behalf of the Home Office.

DNA Database

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people under 18 years who have DNA profiles stored on the national database have not been charged or cautioned for an offence; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: Data on whether persons with a profile on the National DNA Database (NDNAD) have been charged or cautioned for an offence is not held on the NDNAD, but is held on the police national computer (PNC). However, the data requested is not currently available routinely from the PNC.The last available data on this issue was provided in the reply given by my hon. Friend, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Andy Burnham), on 31 January 2006, Official Report, column 367. It was obtained from data extracted from the PNC for monitoring and research purposes.Updated information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by cross-searching approximately three million records retained for such persons on the PNC.

Secondary information