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Written question asked by James Brokenshire (Conservative) on Tuesday, 19 January 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 25 January 2010. It was answered by Alan Campbell (Labour) on Tuesday, 2 February 2010 on behalf of the Home Office.

DNA: Databases

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate he has made of the number of names attached to records on the National DNA Database which (a) are mis-spelled and (b) have been attached in error; and if he will make a statement.
Answer

[holding answer 25 January 2010]: Data provided by the National DNA Database (NDNAD) Delivery unit indicates that between 1 January 2007 and 20 January 2010, it has made changes to eight names on NDNAD profile records following a request from the police force which took the sample. In addition, police forces on occasion may make spelling changes to names on the 'parent' record held on the Police National Computer (PNC). The PNC is linked to the NDNAD and following any changes to names on PNC, an automatic update would be forwarded to the NDNAD.In the same period, there have been 330 sampling or administration errors that have led to records being loaded with incorrect demographic data i.e. an error identified in up to approximately 0.019 per cent. of subject profiles in the period 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2009.A number of procedures carried out by police forces, forensic suppliers and the NDNAD Delivery Unit are in place to ensure that information is recorded as accurately as possible on the NDNAD. These procedures are designed to ensure as far as possible that errors are not included on the database in the first place, rather than rectifying them once the profile has been loaded. If any irregular record comes to the notice of the NDNAD Delivery Unit, the record is suspended on the database pending an investigation—the outcome of which is that the profile record may be re-instated unchanged, amended or deleted.There should be no risk of the wrong individual being charged with an offence since it is a Crown Prosecution Service requirement that, if a person is to be charged on the basis of a DNA match, there must be supporting non-DNA evidence available to be used in evidence. The DNA evidence is one piece of the information that the courts would require for a successful prosecution, as there might be an innocent explanation for someone's presence at a crime scene.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
505 c198W; 312640
Session
2009-10
Subjects
Databases DNA
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk