Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Sandra Gidley (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Thursday, 20 March 2008 on behalf of the Solicitor General.

Crown Prosecution Service

Question: The Solicitor-General has said in the past that, unlike recent cases of official negligence, the data have not actually been lost, but how does she know? If the CPS did not know it had the disk in the first place, how can it possibly reassure us that the disk was never copied illegitimately, or that something similar did not occur?

Answer: The full facts about where the disk was and how it was handled will become clear from the outcome of inquiry. The hon. Lady should not overlook the fact that this was an excellent example of international co-operation between UK law enforcement offices and those abroad, which is capable of taking a lot of criminals off the streets who would not have been taken off the streets if we did not have our strong DNA database and excellent international relationships with our European partners.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 473 c1069
Session: 2007-08
Oral question type: 1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Subjects: Databases Crime Crown Prosecution Service Genetics International cooperation Netherlands
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk