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Written question asked by Damian Green (Conservative) on Tuesday, 9 February 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 22 February 2010. It was answered by Alan Campbell (Labour) on Monday, 22 February 2010 on behalf of the Home Office.

DNA: Databases

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people under (a) 16, (b) 18 and (c) 21 years old had their profile stored on the National DNA Database on 1 January 2010.
Answer

The figures given in the table show the number of subject profiles held on the National DNA Database (NDNAD) as at 31 December 2009 for police forces in England and Wales. It is broken down by current age for people aged under 16, under 18 and under 21 years old.The number of subject profiles is not the same as the number of individuals. A proportion of DNA profiles held on the NDNAD are replicates, that is, a profile for a person has been loaded on more then one occasion (this may be because the person gave different names, or different versions of their name, on separate arrests, or because of upgrading of profiles). As at 31 December 2009, it was estimated that 13.9 per cent. of profiles held on the NDNAD are replicates. As the replication rate is calculated across the entire database, it is not possible to apply it to the number of profiles in each age group, to provide the number of individuals in that group.The presence of these replicate profiles on the NDNAD does not impact on the effectiveness and integrity of the database.The data presented are based on a snapshot of the NDNAD as at 31 December 2009. The data on the NDNAD are constantly changing as records are added and removed, hence the figures are a snapshot of contents at a single point in time. The data are management information and have not been formally assessed for compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Subject profiles held on the NDNAD taken by police forces in England and Wales as at 31 December 2009, broken down by current age
Current age Number of subject profiles
Under 16 113,330
Under 18 300,798
Under 21 761,221

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
506 c349-50W; 317152
Session
2009-10
Subjects
Databases DNA
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk