Written question asked by Harry Cohen (Labour) on Wednesday, 22 May 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 17 June 2002. It was answered by John Denham (Labour) on Monday, 17 June 2002 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) vehicle, (b) criminal record and (c) combined vehicle/criminal checks were undertaken on the Police National Computer in the last year; and how many checks in other categories were undertaken. - Inc figures.

Answer: Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) vehicle, (b) criminal record and (c) combined vehicle/criminal checks were undertaken on the Police National Computer in the last year; and how many checks in other categories were undertaken. [59267] Mr. Denham: From April 2001 to March 2002 a total of 26,546,892 vehicle inquiries were undertaken on the Police National Computer (PNC). A further 136,966 Vehicle Online Descriptive Searches (VODS) were also made. VODS are searches based on partial information. Over the same period, 32,337,776 inquiries on names were made, with a further 67,631 inquiries on names descriptive searches using QUEST, a PNC application that identifies criminal records from partial descriptive details. The PNC database does not have the facility to carry out combined vehicle/criminal record checks. Checks in other categories include stolen property inquiries (99,256 checks) and property descriptive searches (2,572 checks).

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 59267; 387 c116W
Session: 2001-02
Subjects: Databases Criminal records Computers Motor vehicles Police Registration Police national computer
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk