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Home Office

Answer

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals have personal data relating to fingerprints or DNA stored on national police computers; and what percentage of these records relate to individuals who are (a) not criminals and (b) not suspected of any criminality. [74585] Mr. John Denham: On September 2002 the total number of profiles held on the National DNA Database was 1,884,450. Of these there were 55,032 profiles marked as acquitted. These were all taken under Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) from all those charged with or informed they will be reported for a recordable offence, but against whom the prosecution was not proceeded with or who were subsequently acquitted by the courts. The total number of fingerprints on the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS) was 5,213,106 on 3 October 2002. Currently if a prosecution is not proceeded with or a person is acquitted by the courts, the fingerprint record is weeded from NAFIS once the result is recorded on the Police National Computer. In light of the changes in the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, further proposals are under consideration in relation to the system to allow for the retention of fingerprints on NAFIS in such cases. The Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 changes to PACE have been subject to Judicial Review. On 12 September 2002 the Court of Appeal ruled on the cases of S & Marper v. Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police that the new legislation did not breach the European Convention on Human Rights.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

74585; 390 c746W;390 c748W

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Databases Criminal records Fingerprints Genetics Identification of criminals Personal records Police Police national computer

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk