A forecast of the total number of people expected to be on the NDNAD (not broken down by ethnicity) was produced for internal purposes in early 2006, giving an estimate of the total number of individuals expected to be on the Database in each year between 2007 and 2010. The then Home Office Minister of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham) made this public in response to a question from the hon. Member for Ashford (Damian Green) on 18 April 2006, Official Report, column 290W. In a further reply to the hon. Member on 2 May 2006, Official Report, column 1409W, he stated that there were no plans to estimate the future composition of the database by age, gender or ethnicity.
There are no plans at present to make any further forecasts of the future numbers on the database, either in total, or broken down by ethnicity.
A study is being conducted of the issues involved in identifying and removing replicate profiles from the NDNAD, which is expected to report by the end of the year. Plans for handling of replicate profiles will then be made in the light of the conclusions.
[holding answer 4 June 2007]: There are currently five members of staff working in the National DNA Database Data Quality and Integrity Team (DQIT).
All members of the team are trained to use the National DNA Database (NDNAD). Three members of the team also attended a formal Police National Computer training course while working in the police service. The other two members of the team are awaiting formal PNC training.
The team is extremely experienced in dealing with PNC and NDNAD issues. Three members of the team are retired police officers who between them served over 87 years in the police service; the other two members of the team between them have over 12 years experience of working for the NDNAD Service Delivery Team.