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To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer of 8 October 2007, Official Report, column 165W, on genetics: databases; if she will place in the Library a copy of the equality impact assessment conducted by the National Policing Improvement Agency relating to the...

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

24 November 2008

Reference

483 c823W; 212372

House

House of Commons

Genetics: Databases

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people aged (a) under 10, (b) 10 to 17, (c) 18 to 20 and (d) 21 and over in each ethnic appearance category were registered on the national DNA database in each of the last five years; and...

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

16 June 2008

For answer on

18 June 2008

Answered on

10 November 2008

The function of the National DNA Database (NDNAD) is to match DNA profiles taken from crime scenes with those taken from individuals. It does not contain any information on whether those on it have been arrested, charged or given a reprimand or final warning.Information is available on the number of those whose profiles have been added to the NDNAD by English and Welsh police forces, as at 16 July 2008, broken down by ethnic appearance category and the age groups requested, as given in Table 1. Age is defined as the person's age at the time DNA was taken from them, not their current age. This data could only be further broken down to show which profiles were added in each of the last five years at disproportionate cost.The number of profiles is not the same as the number of individuals. This is because a number of subject profiles on the NDNAD are replicates, that is, a profile for a person has been loaded to the NDNAD on more than one occasion.This may arise for a number of reasons, such as a person giving a different name on different occasions they are arrested, or because of upgrading of profiles. It is estimated that 13.3 per cent of the subject profiles held on the entire NDNAD are replicates.Ethnic appearance is based on the judgement of the police officer taking the sample as to which of six broad ethnic appearance categories the person is considered to belong. 'Unknown' means that no ethnic appearance information was recorded by the officer taking the sample.

Table 1
Ethnic appearance	Age range	Number of profiles	Number of individuals using 13.3per cent estimated replication rate
Unknown	Under 10	19	16
	10-17	53,274	46,189
	18-20	34,605	30,003
	21 and over	210,113	182,168
	Unknown age on load	880	763
Total Unknown		298,891	259,138 6

Black	Under 10	7
	10-17	81,748	70,876
	18-20	46,823	40,596
	21 and over	240,017	208,095
	Unknown age on load	6,747	5,850
Total Black		375,342	325,422

Middle Eastern	Under 10	2	2
	10-17	4,105	3,559
	18-20	4,383	3,800
	21 and over	27,077	23,476
	Unknown age on load	295	256
Total Middle Eastern		35,862	31,092

Asian	Under 10	6	5
	10-17	43,998	38,146
	18-20	38,730	33,579
	21 and over	176,783	153,271
	Unknown age on load	2,234	1,937
Total Asian		261,751	226,938

White Southern European	Under 10	11	10
	10-17	15,290	13,256
	18-20	10,850	9,407
	21 and over	63,783	55,300
	Unknown age on load	1,169	1,014
Total White Southern European		91,103	78,986

Chinese, Japanese or SE Asian	Under 10	0	0
	10-17	2,929	2,539
	18-20	3,140	2,722
	21 and over	24,139	20,929
	Unknown age on load	127	110
Total Chinese, Japanese or SE Asian		30,335	26,300

White North European	Under 10	54	47
	10-17	856,617	742,687
	18-20	514,545	446,111
	21 and over	2,372,906	2,057,310
	Unknown age on load	56,063	48,607
Total White North European		3,800,185	3,294,760

Date

10 November 2008

Reference

482 c798-802W; 212373

House

House of Commons

Genetics: Databases

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have their DNA profile stored on the national DNA database, broken down by (a) police force area and (b) ethnicity.

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

16 June 2008

For answer on

18 June 2008

Answered on

27 October 2008

The number of subject profiles held on the National DNA Database (NDNAD) by force in England and Wales, as at 30 June 2008, is shown in Table 1.The number of profiles is not the same as the number of individuals. This is because a number of subject profiles on the NDNAD are replicates, that is, a profile for a person has been loaded to the NDNAD on more than one occasion. This may arise for a number of reasons, such as a person giving a different name on different occasions they are arrested, or because of the upgrading of profiles from the SGM to the SGM Plus profiling system. It is estimated that at 30 June 2008,13.3 per cent. of the subject profiles held on the entire NDNAD were replicates.However, this rate may vary between police forces, so figures for the number of individuals on the NDNAD are not given for each force.The numbers of subject profiles, and individuals, on the NDNAD held by English and Welsh forces as at 16 July 2008, broken down by ethnic appearance, is shown in Table 2. Ethnic appearance is based on the judgment of the police officer taking the sample as to which of six broad ethnic appearance categories the person is considered to belong to. 'Unknown' means that no ethnic appearance information was recorded by the officer taking the sample.

Table 1
Force	Subject Profiles
Avon and Somerset	104,695
Bedfordshire	46,841
British Transport	47,179
Cambridgeshire	55,353
Cheshire	81,848
City of London Police	23,415
Cleveland	53,050
Cumbria	45,695
Derbyshire	89,403
Devon and Cornwall	112,235
Dorset	51,151
Durham	53,573
Dyfed-Powys	50,375
Essex	128,182
Gloucestershire	45,307
Greater Manchester Police	251,024
Gwent	53,019
Hampshire	149,198
Hertfordshire	75,295
Humberside	84,014
Kent	144,523
Lancashire	146,257
Leicestershire	68,500
Lincolnshire	49,053
Merseyside	133,600
Metropolitan Police	831,260
Norfolk	66,503
North Wales	60,093
North Yorkshire	57,799
Northamptonshire	45,094
Northumbria	170,317
Nottinghamshire	100,947
South Wales Constabulary	119,540
South Yorkshire	121,007
Staffordshire	99,157
Suffolk	48,077
Surrey	61,599
Sussex	115,121
Thames Valley	151,278
Warwickshire Police	32,974
West Mercia	78,214
West Midlands	299,446
West Yorkshire	220,649
Wiltshire	50,516
(Total subject profiles	4,872,376
Total individuals	4,224,350

Table 2
Ethnic Appearance	Subject Profiles	Estimated individuals	Percentage
Unknown	298,891	259,138	6.11
Asian	261,751	226,938	5.35
Black	375,342	325,422	7.67
Chinese, Japanese other SE Asian	30,335	26,300	0.62
Middle Eastern	35,862	31,092	0.73
White - North European	3,800,185	3,294,760	77.66
White - South European	91,103	78,986	1.86
Total	4,893,469	4,242,636	—

Date

27 October 2008

Reference

212371; 481 c677-9W

House

House of Commons

Genetics: Databases

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer of 18 April 2006, Official Report, column 290W, on DNA database, what the projected growth is for the number of individuals with a DNA profile on the national DNA database over the next five years.

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

29 September 2008

Reference

212354; 479 c2341-2W

House

House of Commons

Genetics: Databases

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people whose DNA is held on the national database that have committed no offence are (a) male and (b) female; and if she will make a statement.

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

6 November 2007

For answer on

8 November 2007

Answered on

13 December 2007

On 31 October 2007, there were an estimated 4,188,033 individuals with a DNA profile retained on the National DNA Database (NDNAD). This includes approximately 22,700 persons who had provided a DNA profile voluntarily. Of the 4.18 million persons, 3,938,156 persons were sampled by police forces in England and Wales. These figures were obtained from the NDNAD.Data on arrest and criminal histories are not held on the NDNAD, but are held on the Police National Computer (PNC). Such data are not available routinely at present, but the National Policing Improvement Agency which has responsibility for the delivery of NDNAD services is working towards being able to provide such data regularly from the NDNAD and PNC.Data obtained from the PNC on 31 October indicate that 3,637,163 (of the 3,938,156) persons had a record retained on PNC. Of these, 3,117,942 persons had a conviction, caution, formal warning or reprimand¹ recorded on the PNC (79 per cent. of persons on the NDNAD sampled by forces in England and Wales); and 519,221 persons (13 per cent. of persons on the NDNAD sampled by forces in England and Wales) had no current conviction, caution, formal warning or reprimand recorded on PNC. The latter figure comprises some persons who may have had a caution or conviction record removed from PNC after five to 10 years in accordance with the Rules for Criminal Record Weeding (which applied prior to April 2006); persons who have been charged and acquitted or proceedings discontinued; persons who have been charged with a recordable offence and proceedings are ongoing; and persons who have been arrested but no further action was taken against them. The PNC records for the other 300,993 persons (8 per cent. of persons on the NDNAD) had been removed from the PNC for various reasons, for example, their conviction and caution records had been weeded after five-10 years, the person had been acquitted or proceedings were discontinued. No breakdown is available of the number of males and females who have a profile on the NDNAD but who have not been convicted, cautioned etc. These data could be obtained only at disproportionate cost."¹ Cautions, final warnings and reprimands are sanctions administered to a person who admits to having committed a criminal offence which could have led to prosecution."

Date

13 December 2007

Reference

162218; 469 c761-2W

House

House of Commons

Genetics: Databases

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

30 October 2007

Reference

161548; 465 c1276-7W;465 c1277W

House

House of Commons

Genetics: Databases

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many DNA profiles are held of (a) males and (b) females who are (i) under 16 years old, (ii) 16 years old, (iii) 17 years old, (iv) 18 years old and (v) over 18 years old, broken down by...

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

24 July 2007

For answer on

26 July 2007

Answered on

3 September 2007

The number of profiles held on the National DNA Database (NDNAD) by all forces in the UK as at 31 March 2007, broken down as requested, is shown in the following table. It is currently estimated that 13.7 per cent. of profiles held on the NDNAD are replicates, i.e. that a profile for a person has been loaded on more than one occasion (one reason for this is that the person gave different names, or different versions of their name, on separate arrests). Thus the number of individuals on the database is approximately 13.7 per cent. less than the number of subject profiles.

All forces
	Under 16	16	17	18	Over 18	Unknown age
Males—profiles at 31 March 2007
Unknown	10,537	7,097	9,133	10,918	315,224	23
Afro Caribbean	6,513	4,578	5,858	7,016	230,664	16
Arab	261	251	390	473	25,459	31
Asian	3,992	2,870	3,495	4,252	170,952	39
Dark Skinned European	1,172	744	954	1,274	61,027	17
Oriental	148	152	170	262	15,887	1
White Skinned European	83,787	49,483	60,714	71,989	2,374,834	70

Males—individuals at 31 March 2007
Unknown	9,093	6,125	7,882	9,422	272,038	20
Afro Caribbean	5,621	3,951	5,055	6,055	199,063	14
Arab	225	217	337	408	21,971	27
Asian	3,445	2,477	3,016	3,669	147,532	34
Dark Skinned European	1,011	642	823	1,099	52,666	15
Oriental	128	131	147	226	13,710	1
White Skinned European	72,308	42,704	52,396	62,127	2,049,482	60

Females—profiles at 31 March 2007
Unknown	3,942	2,514	2,913	3,114	69,628	5
Afro Caribbean	2,685	1,795	2,012	2,390	50,633	4
Arab	46	38	40	46	2,251	3
Asian	838	536	728	853	21,482	18
Dark Skinned European	563	324	400	432	11,758	10
Oriental	87	73	95	118	5,742	2
White Skinned European	37,323	23,502	25,552	27,015	564,441	27

Females—individuals at 31 March 2007
Unknown	3,402	2,170	2,514	2,687	60,089	4
Afro Caribbean	2,317	1,549	1,736	2,063	43,696	3
Arab	40	33	35	40	1,943	3
Asian	723	463	628	736	18,539	16
Dark Skinned European	486	280	345	373	10,147	9
Oriental	75	63	82	102	4,955	2
White Skinned European	32,210	20,282	22,051	23,314	487,113	23

Date

3 September 2007

Reference

153540; 463 c1844-5W

House

House of Commons

NHS Database

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many complaints have been received from (a) the public and (b) medical professionals that entries on the NHS database are (i) inaccurate and (ii) false.

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Department of Health

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

19 January 2007

Reference

113396; 455 c1418W

House

House of Commons

DNA Database

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost is of collecting and entering one DNA profile onto the National DNA Database; and if he will make a statement.

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

8 January 2007

Reference

455 c446W;455 c444W; 113421

House

House of Commons

DNA Evidence

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many and what percentage of cases in which an arrest was made on the basis of DNA evidence was the DNA evidence found to be mistaken or false, since the establishment of the National DNA Database.

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

7 December 2006

For answer on

11 December 2006

Answered on

8 January 2007

It is not necessarily straightforward to say that an arrest is made on the basis of DNA evidence, as police investigations will often involve looking at several different types of evidence including DNA, and an arrest may be made on the basis of the whole package of evidence. We are, however, aware of two cases in which arrests were made on the basis of mistaken DNA evidence since the establishment of the NDNAD in 1995.In October 1997 a bloodstain from the burglary of a dwelling was matched to a Mr. K who was arrested by the Metropolitan Police. In fact samples provided by Mr K. and Mr. H had been accidentally switched in the laboratory. Mr K. began legal action against the Forensic Science Service but did not complete it within the legally prescribed period.In August 1999, Mr E. was arrested on the basis of a DMA sample found in a burglary 150 miles from his home. He was suffering from Parkinson's disease and could not have got to the crime scene unaided. This was an SGM match—use of the more discriminating SGM plus technique (explained as follows) showed the first match was incorrect and the charges were dropped.These errors must be seen in the context of almost 300,000 matches between crime scenes and individuals during the period 1998-99 to 2005-06. Use of DMA profiling is an extremely reliable technique.Continuous quality monitoring of suppliers is carried out through the NDNAD's supplier accreditation section, and barcode and electronic document scanning systems are used in laboratories to minimise the possibility of human error.The SGM technique introduced in 1995 looks at six areas of DMA plus the area showing the person's sex and has a one in 50 million chance of being incorrect (the odds are very probably much better than this).Home Office Circular 58/2004 and the ACPO DMA Good Practice Guide advise that where a match of a crime scene to an individual involves an SGM profile, strong consideration should be given to upgrading the SGM profile to SGM Plus to ensure that there is still a match.If a person is to be charged on the basis of a DNA match, the CPS require that there must be supporting non-DNA evidence available to be used in evidence. No-one is ever prosecuted solely on the basis of a DNA match; the DNA evidence is one piece of the information that the courts would require for a successful prosecution.

Date

8 January 2007

Reference

108546; 455 c133-4W

House

House of Commons

DNA Database

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will break down by (a) police force and (b) ethnic origin the number of those who have a DNA profile and were neither charged nor cautioned.

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

13 December 2006

Reference

100662; 454 c1108W;454 c1110W

House

House of Commons

DNA Database

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people who have been arrested but not charged or cautioned for any offence have their DNA profile stored on the National DNA Database; and what proportion of these people are from each ethnic minority background.

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

12 December 2006

Reference

101190; 454 c1045-6W;454 c1049-50W

House

House of Commons

DNA Database

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will break down by police force and ethnic origin the number of those who have a DNA profile on the National DNA Database.

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

28 November 2006

Reference

100661; 453 c645W

House

House of Commons

DNA Database

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding the National DNA database has received from the Government in each of the last five years.

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

28 November 2006

Reference

101007; 453 c645W

House

House of Commons

DNA Database

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether a record is kept on the National DNA Database of the initial offence for which a person whose details are on the database was arrested.

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

28 November 2006

Reference

100683; 453 c645W

House

House of Commons

DNA Database

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have their DNA profile stored on the National DNA Database; and what proportion of these people are from each ethnic minority background.

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

15 November 2006

For answer on

23 November 2006

Answered on

28 November 2006

The information requested is shown in the table which gives a breakdown of the number of Subject Sample DNA Profiles on the National DNA Database by ethnic appearance for all forces.

Number of subject sample DNA Profiles on the National DNA Database for all forces—by ethnic appearance of subject
Ethnic appearance	Total subject profile count	Individuals count using 11 per cent. replication rate	Percentage breakdown
Unknown	443,633	394,833	10.44
Afro-Caribbean	302,225	268,980	7.11
Arab	27,681	24,636	0.65
Asian	197,122	175439	4.64
Dark Skinned European	75,967	67,611	1.79
Oriental	20,838	18,546	0.49
White Skinned European	3,183,272	2833112	74.89
Total subject profile count for all forces	4,250,738	3,783,157	—
Notes:
1. The data covers forces in England and Wales, Scottish forces, the Police Service for Northern Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey, the Ministry of Defence Police etc.
2. The figures given in column 2 are the number of DNA subject sample profiles held on the Database as at 20 November 2006. This is due to samples being taken from some individuals on more than one occasion (i.e. due to replicate sampling). It is estimated that the current level of replication is about 11 per cent.
3. The figures given in column 3 are the estimated number of individuals on the National DNA Database.
4. It should be noted that no data on ethnic appearance is recorded for approx 10 per cent. of samples.

Date

28 November 2006

Reference

101189; 453 c646W

House

House of Commons

DNA DATABASE

That this House recognises the vital role DNA and the DNA database play in the detection of crimes but is concerned about the retention of DNA samples on the National Police Database of those individuals who are neither charged nor cautioned; further recognises the potential detrimental effect the retention of...

Primary sponsor

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Type

Early day motions

Date

15 November 2006

Reference

44; 44A1

House

House of Commons

Police Records

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many requests were made to chief constables for the removal of (a) DNA, (b) fingerprint and (c) police national computer records in each of the last five years; and how many of these requests have been granted.

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

12 October 2006

Reference

92197; 450 c860-1W;450 c866-7W

House

House of Commons

Police Records

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what exceptional circumstances a person’s request to have their (a) DNA, (b) fingerprint and (c) police national computer records deleted would be granted; and if he will make a statement.

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

11 October 2006

Reference

92198; 450 c782W;450 c788W

House

House of Commons

DNA Database

(4) for what reasons such requests have been (a) made and (b) granted; and what criteria are used to decide whether to grant such a request.

Asked by

Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

5 July 2006

For answer on

10 July 2006

Answered on

20 July 2006

[holding answer 28 June 2006]: The majority of requests for the exchange of DNA information between the United Kingdom and other countries are routed through the United Kingdom National Central Bureau for Interpol (UK NCB) based at the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). Other channels may include bi-lateral direct liaison between law enforcement authorities: and formal mutual legal assistance channels. Exchanges of DMA information via these channels will almost always be a response to the needs of a specific criminal investigation.Requests from international law enforcement agencies for a search of the National DMA Database are only processed where it is clear that the request is in the interest of prevention and detection of crime, national security or the data subject. They are also subject to a risk assessment, taking into account the justification for and proportionality of disclosure of the information in line with human rights. If cleared for processing, a one-off speculative search of the Database is made by the Custodian and information fed back to UK NCB.The UK NCB is not currently able to provide data on the number of requests received from other countries but only on the number of requests processed and dealt with by the Database Custodian. As indicated in the answer of 5 June 2006, Official Report, column 281W, 519 search requests have been dealt with by the Database Custodian since 2004 and responses provided back to UK NCB in each case (this includes searches of the UK DNA Database at the request of other countries as well as preparing profiles in order for UK law enforcement agencies to request searches overseas).Data on the countries to which DNA profiles have been sent and on the number of profiles sent to other countries in pursuit of specific criminal investigations could only be provided at disproportionate cost as the majority of the data is not currently held electronically. This information will be available later this year following the introduction of a new data collection system (this will not apply to retrospective data). However, it is estimated that international DNA searches are requested on two to three occasions each week (this includes requests received from abroad and requests made by the UK for searches in other countries).Data is not collected on the number of exchanges of DMA information which occur through direct liaison between law enforcement authorities or formal mutual legal assistance channels.

Date

20 July 2006

Reference

449 c605-7W; 84088

House

House of Commons

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Department

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