Written question asked by Julian Lewis (Conservative) on Tuesday, 7 November 2000, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 17 November 2000. It was answered by Charles Clarke (Labour) on Friday, 17 November 2000 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the reliability of DNA testing (a) in convicting the guilty and (b) in exonerating the innocent.

Answer: Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the reliability of DNA testing (a) in convicting the guilty and (b) in exonerating the innocent. [137936] Mr. Charles Clarke: The reliability of DNA evidence is assured through the internal quality assurance measures adopted by the Forensic Science Service (FSS) and through external accreditation by the British Standards Institute (BSI) and United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to the BS EN ISO 9000 and M10 National Standards. This independent accreditation of the DNA process involves regular audit to ensure the standards are maintained. The more advanced SGMplus technique was introduced by the FSS in September 1999. A statistical assessment, to be published in the International Journal of Legal Medicine, showed that when using this process the probability of a chance match between a full DNA profile obtained from a suspect's sample and another one from a crime scene stain left by another person was less than one in a billion.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 356 c813W; 137936
Session: 1999-00
Subjects: Criminal investigation Forensic science Genetics Identification of criminals Testing
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk