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Written question asked by Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 16 June 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 18 June 2008. It was answered by Meg Hillier (Labour) on Monday, 27 October 2008 on behalf of the Home Office.

Genetics: Databases

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have their DNA profile stored on the national DNA database, broken down by (a) police force area and (b) ethnicity.
Answer

The number of subject profiles held on the National DNA Database (NDNAD) by force in England and Wales, as at 30 June 2008, is shown in Table 1.The number of profiles is not the same as the number of individuals. This is because a number of subject profiles on the NDNAD are replicates, that is, a profile for a person has been loaded to the NDNAD on more than one occasion. This may arise for a number of reasons, such as a person giving a different name on different occasions they are arrested, or because of the upgrading of profiles from the SGM to the SGM Plus profiling system. It is estimated that at 30 June 2008,13.3 per cent. of the subject profiles held on the entire NDNAD were replicates.However, this rate may vary between police forces, so figures for the number of individuals on the NDNAD are not given for each force.The numbers of subject profiles, and individuals, on the NDNAD held by English and Welsh forces as at 16 July 2008, broken down by ethnic appearance, is shown in Table 2. Ethnic appearance is based on the judgment of the police officer taking the sample as to which of six broad ethnic appearance categories the person is considered to belong to. 'Unknown' means that no ethnic appearance information was recorded by the officer taking the sample.

Table 1
Force Subject Profiles
Avon and Somerset 104,695
Bedfordshire 46,841
British Transport 47,179
Cambridgeshire 55,353
Cheshire 81,848
City of London Police 23,415
Cleveland 53,050
Cumbria 45,695
Derbyshire 89,403
Devon and Cornwall 112,235
Dorset 51,151
Durham 53,573
Dyfed-Powys 50,375
Essex 128,182
Gloucestershire 45,307
Greater Manchester Police 251,024
Gwent 53,019
Hampshire 149,198
Hertfordshire 75,295
Humberside 84,014
Kent 144,523
Lancashire 146,257
Leicestershire 68,500
Lincolnshire 49,053
Merseyside 133,600
Metropolitan Police 831,260
Norfolk 66,503
North Wales 60,093
North Yorkshire 57,799
Northamptonshire 45,094
Northumbria 170,317
Nottinghamshire 100,947
South Wales Constabulary 119,540
South Yorkshire 121,007
Staffordshire 99,157
Suffolk 48,077
Surrey 61,599
Sussex 115,121
Thames Valley 151,278
Warwickshire Police 32,974
West Mercia 78,214
West Midlands 299,446
West Yorkshire 220,649
Wiltshire 50,516
(Total subject profiles 4,872,376
Total individuals 4,224,350
Table 2
Ethnic Appearance Subject Profiles Estimated individuals Percentage
Unknown 298,891 259,138 6.11
Asian 261,751 226,938 5.35
Black 375,342 325,422 7.67
Chinese, Japanese other SE Asian 30,335 26,300 0.62
Middle Eastern 35,862 31,092 0.73
White - North European 3,800,185 3,294,760 77.66
White - South European 91,103 78,986 1.86
Total 4,893,469 4,242,636 —

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
212371; 481 c677-9W
Session
2007-08
Subjects
Databases Genetics
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk