asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has carried out any investigations or received any reports about the use of genetic fingerprinting as part of the forensic evidence to be adduced in (a) cases of alleged sexual assault and (b) other criminal cases; and if he will make a statement.

The technique of genetic fingerprinting, pioneered by Dr. Alec Jeffreys of Leicester university, has been further developed by scientists at the Forensic Science Service Central Research Establishment, for application to criminal cases. It has great potential for identification of suspects in particular types of cases in which body fluids have been shed. Since December 1986 the technique has been used in a small number of criminal investigations of sexual assaults and murder. Statements in these cases have been issued to the police but have not yet been adduced as evidence in a Crown Court.