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Genetics: Databases

Volume 479: debated on Monday 29 September 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) males and (b) females aged (i) under 15, (ii) 15 to 24, (iii) 25 to 34, (iv) 35 to 44, (v) 45 to 54, (iv) 55 to 64 and (viii) over 65 years in each ethnic appearance category were registered on the national DNA database in each of the last five years. (200244)

Data on the number of males whose profiles have been added to the National DNA Database (NDNAD) by English and Welsh police forces, as at 16 July 2008, broken down by sex and the age groups requested, is shown in table 1. Equivalent data for females is given in table 2. 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 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: Male

Ethnic appearance

Age range

Number of subject profiles

Number of individuals using 13.3 per cent. estimated replication rate

Unknown

Under 15

11,340

9,832

15 to 24

71,251

61,775

25 to 34

50,416

43,711

35 to 44

36,863

31,960

45 to 54

21,654

18,774

55 to 64

10,347

8,971

65 and over

4,186

3,629

Unknown age on load

810

702

Total unknown

206,867

179,354

Black

Under 15

20,531

17,800

15 to 24

116,685

101,166

25 to 34

79,665

69,070

35 to 44

56,347

48,853

45 to 54

16,045

13,911

55 to 64

3,631

3,148

65 and over

1,681

1,457

Unknown age on load

6,451

5,593

Total black

301,036

260,998

Middle Eastern

Under 15

804

697

15 to 24

12,278

10,645

25 to 34

12,003

10,407

35 to 44

5,069

4,395

45 to 54

1,829

1,586

55 to 64

434

376

65 and over

102

88

Unknown age on load

288

250

Total Middle Eastern

32,807

28,444

Asian

Under 15

10,905

9,455

15 to 24

99,171

85,981

25 to 34

66,185

57,382

35 to 44

31,105

26,968

.

45 to 54

14,508

12,578

55 to 64

4,000

3,468

65 and over

1,408

1,221

Unknown age on load

2,166

1,878

Total Asian

229,448

198,931

White South European

Under 15

3,751

3,252

15 to 24

27,937

24,221

25 to 34

24,250

21,025

35 to 44

12,462

10,805

45 to 54

3,972

3,444

55 to 64

998

865

65 and over

246

213

Unknown age on load

1,091

946

Total white South European

74,707

64,771

Chinese, Japanese or SE Asian

Under 15

533

462

15 to 24

7,641

6,625

25 to 34

7,078

6,137

35 to 44

4,381

3,798

45 to 54

1,741

1,509

55 to 64

393

341

65 and over

100

87

Unknown age on load

113

98

Total Chinese, Japanese or SE Asian

21,980

19,057

White North European

Under 15

227,880

197,572

15 to 24

1,195,063

1,036,120

25 to 34

664,089

575,765

35 to 44

479,342

415,590

.

45 to 54

234,760

203,537

55 to 64

100,249

86,916

65 and over

32,960

28,576

Unknown age on load

53,243

46,162

Total white North European

2,987,586

2,590,237

Total male

3,854,431

3,341,792

Table 2: Female

Ethnic appearance

Age range

Number of subject profiles

Number of individuals using 13.3 per cent. estimated replication rate

Unknown

Under 14

5,333

4,624

15 to 24

22,839

19,801

25 to 34

13,389

11,608

35 to 44

10,491

9,096

45 to 54

4,971

4,310

55 to 64

1,706

1,479

Over 65

519

450

Unknown age on load

53

46

Total unknown

59,301

51,414

Black

Under 14

7,976

6,915

15 to 24

31,087

26,952

25 to 34

18,897

16,384

35 to 44

11,904

10,321

45 to 54

3,063

2,656

55 to 64

492

427

Over 65

133

115

Unknown age on load

294

255

Total black

73,846

64,024

Middle Eastern

Under 14

144

125

15 to 24

960

832

25 to 34

844

732

35 to 44

602

522

45 to 54

288

250

55 to 64

84

73

Over 65

29

25

Unknown age on load

7

6

Total Middle Eastern

2,958

2,565

Asian

Under 14

2,166

1,878

15 to 24

13,579

11,773

25 to 34

8,751

7,587

35 to 44

4,519

3,918

45 to 54

1,973

1,711

55 to 64

588

510

Over 65

128

111

Unknown age on load

66

57

Total Asian

31,770

27,545

White South European

Under 14

1,815

1,574

15 to 24

6,741

5,844

25 to 34

4,241,

3,677

35 to 44

2,336

2,025

45 to 54

808

701

55 to 64

195

169

Over 65

46

40

Unknown age on load

76

66

Total white South European

16,258

14,096

Chinese, Japanese or SE Asian

Under 14

267

231

15 to 24

2,927

2,538

25 to 34

2,609

2,262

35 to 44

1,587

1,376

45 to 54

678

588

55 to 64

165

143

Over 65

31

27

Unknown age on load

14

12

Total Chinese, Japanese or SE Asian

8,278

7,177

White North European

Under 14

99,852

86,572

15 to 24

321,176

278,460,

25 to 34

166,925

144,724

35 to 44

134,767

116,843

45 to 54

58,131

50,400

55 to 64

19,347

16,774

Over 65

4,976

4,314

Unknown age on load

2,807

2,434

Total white North European

807,981

700,520

Total female

1,000,392

867,340

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. (212354)

Updated figures for the projected growth in the number of individuals on the National DNA Database are not yet available.

Work on revising the figures is in progress. It will also take account of the judgment in the S and Marper case before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on the proportionality of retaining biometric data for those charged but not convicted of an offence. The ECtHR judgment is expected later this year. Revised projections should be available in early 2009.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of people with DNA profiles held on the national DNA database living in (a) Leeds West constituency, (b) Leeds Metropolitan District and (c) the UK are of (i) Asian, (ii) Black and (iii) Eastern European ethnic origin and are under 18 years old. (213352)

Information held on the National DNA Database (NDNAD) is available on the basis of the police force which added the DNA profile, not the residence of the person sampled. Information is, therefore, not available on the number of residents of Leeds, West constituency or Leeds metropolitan district who have had a DNA profile added to the NDNAD, but is available on the number of profiles loaded by West Yorkshire police. The people from whom these profiles were taken may not be resident in the area where they were sampled.

The NDNAD holds records on the ethnic appearance of persons who have DNA taken, based on the judgment of the police officer completing the record about which of six broad ethnic categories the person belongs to. These categories are white—north European; white—south European; middle eastern; Asian; black; and Chinese, Japanese or other south east Asian. There is no separate category for eastern Europeans. If the police officer does not make an entry for ethnic appearance, this is recorded as 'unknown'.

It is not, therefore, possible to provide the information requested. However, it is possible to provide information on the number of profiles added to the NDNAD by West Yorkshire police, and by all English and Welsh police forces, broken down by age and the ethnic appearance categories used. The age shown is the person's current age, not the age they were when the DNA sample was taken. This is shown in the following table.

The number of profiles held on the NDNAD is not the same as the number of individuals. As it is possible for a profile to be loaded onto the NDNAD on more than one occasion, some profiles held on the NDNAD are replicates. This can occur, for example, if the person provided different names, or different versions of their name, on separate arrests, or because profiles are upgraded.

At present, the national replication rate is 13.3 per cent., that is, the number of people whose details are loaded is 13.3 per cent. fewer than the number of profiles. However, this rate may vary between police forces, so figures for the number of individuals whose profiles have been loaded are not given for specific forces.

End August 2008Subject Profiles under 18sSubject Profiles all ages

Ethnic appearance

English and Welsh forces

Per cent. in each ethnic appearance group

West Yorkshire

Per cent. in each ethnic appearance group

English and Welsh forces

Per cent. in each ethnic appearance group

West Yorkshire

Per cent. in each ethnic appearance group

Unknown

18,323

5.3

406

2.2

299,141

6.0

5,087

2.3

Asian

14,507

4.2

1,876

9.9

268,896

5.4

24,591

10.9

Black

25,897

7.5

1,108

5.9

383,859

7.7

11,529

5.1

Chinese, Japanese or SE Asian

921

0.3

39

0.2

31,392

0.6

971

0.4

Middle Eastern

1,306

0.4

28

0.1

36,947

0.7

1,293

0.6

White-North European

279,031

81.0

15,264

80.9

3,870,526

77.7

179,358

79.8

White-South European

4,341

1.3

155

0.8

93,098

1.9

2,003

0.9

Total , profiles

344,326

18,876

4,983,859

224,832

Total individuals

298,531

4,321,006

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many DNA profiles on the national DNA database are of people resident in (a) the UK, (b) Leeds West constituency, (c) Leeds Metropolitan District and (d) Yorkshire and Humberside; (213353)

(2) what proportion of the population in (a) Leeds West constituency and (b) Leeds Metropolitan District has a profile on the national DNA database.

Information held on the National DNA Database (NDNAD) is available on the basis of the police force which added the DNA profile, not the residence of the person sampled. Information is, therefore, not available on the number of residents of Leeds, West constituency or Leeds metropolitan district, or the proportion of the population of those areas, who have had a DNA profile added to the NDNAD. Information is, however, available on the number of profiles loaded by the Yorkshire and Humberside police forces, as shown in the following table.

The people from whom these profiles were taken may not be resident in the area where they were sampled.

The number of profiles held on the NDNAD is not the same as the number of individuals. As it is possible for a profile to be loaded onto the NDNAD on more than one occasion, some profiles held on the NDNAD are replicates. This can occur, for example, if the person provided different names, or different versions of their name, on separate arrests, or because profiles are upgraded.

At present, the national replication rate is 13.3 per cent., that is, the number of people whose details are loaded is 13.3 per cent. fewer than the number of profiles. However, this rate may vary between police forces, so figures for the number of individuals whose profiles have been loaded are not given for specific police forces.

The total number of subject profiles held on the NDNAD for all police forces at 30 June 2008 was 5,193,986. Allowing for replication, this equates to approximately 4,503,186 individuals. The corresponding figures for English and Welsh police forces are 4,872,376 profiles and approximately 4,224,350 individuals.

Force

Number of subject profiles

Humberside

84,014

North Yorkshire

57,799

South Yorkshire

121,007

West Yorkshire

220,649

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many individuals' data were held on the National DNA Database in each financial year for which records are available; (214979)

(2) how many social profiles were held on the National DNA Database in each financial year for which records are available.

The National DNA Database (NDNAD) is a continually changing database, so it is not possible to give the total number of profiles held on it at the end of each year retrospectively. However, the number of profiles added to it by English and Welsh police forces in each year since its inception is available. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (David Davis) on 2 June 2008, Official Report, column 733W.

As it is possible for a person's profile to be loaded onto the NDNAD on more than one occasion, some profiles held on the NDNAD are replicates. This can occur, for example, if the person provided different names, or different versions of their name, on separate arrests, or because profiles are upgraded.

Therefore, the number of individuals on the NDNAD is the number of subject profiles reduced by the replication rate. At present, the replication rate is 13.3 per cent., so the 541,920 subject profiles added to the NDNAD in 2007-08 equates to an estimated 469,845 individuals. However, the replication rate has varied over time, so it is not possible to provide a figure for the number of individuals added to the NDNAD for all years since 1995.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many requests she has received from other European member states for a crosscheck of a DNA sample against profiles on the national DNA database in the last five years. (219322)

The number of requests received from all other countries to check profiles from unsolved serious crimes, or for the identification of an unknown deceased person believed to be a United Kingdom national, carried out by the National DNA Database (NDNAD) Custodian in each year since 2004-05, is shown in the table.

Number of searches

2004-05

149

2005-06

249

2006-07

498

2007-08

727

Before 2004, requests were rare, so no data was collated. The figures do not include the country of origin of the request, so it is not possible to tell which were from EU member states and which from other countries.

The figures do not include requests which were received but not approved and processed.

Most 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 bilateral direct liaison between law enforcement authorities and formal mutual legal assistance channels. Exchanges of DNA 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 NDNAD 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 NDNAD is made by the Custodian and information fed back to UK NCB.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what assessment she has made of the probability of an adventitious match between DNA profiles submitted by law enforcement agencies of other member states and DNA profiles held on the national DNA database arising from the use of the six loci standard; (219480)

(2) what assessment she has made of the accuracy of the Interpol Standard Set of Loci (ISSOL) in comparing DNA profiles; and what assessment she has made of the differences between ISSOL and the standard in use in the UK;

(3) what assessment her Department has made of the accuracy of the six loci DNA comparison standard for sharing of DNA data.

The greater the number of different areas of DNA (loci) examined by a DNA profiling system, the higher the level of accuracy.

When the United Kingdom National DNA Database (NDNAD) was set up in 1995, the SGM system was used, which looked at six loci plus amelogenin (the area showing the person’s gender). In 1999, SGM was replaced by SGM Plus, which looks at 10 loci plus the gender area. The probability of an adventitious (chance) match between full SGM DNA profiles of unrelated individuals is of the order of one in 50 million. The quoted probability of a match between full SGM Plus DNA profiles of unrelated individuals is one in one billion (i.e. one in a thousand million). The NDNAD Custodian carefully monitors replicate DNA profiles loaded to the NDNAD, and a key reason for doing this is to identify potential adventitious matches between SGM Plus DNA profiles derived from unrelated individuals. To date, no such adventitious match has been found. This indicates the SGM Plus match probability to be significantly lower than the figure quoted—it is probably better than one in one trillion (that is, one in a million million).

It was decided when SGM Plus was introduced that it was not value for money to reanalyse all the samples taken between 1995 and 1999 to upgrade them from SGM to SGM Plus. However, if a match occurs involving an SGM profile, or a partial crime scene profile, the original samples are routinely reanalysed using SGM Plus to provide the best possible match.

The Interpol Standard Set of Loci include seven loci plus amelogenin. Six of the seven loci are the same as in the SGM system. In order to carry out an Interpol search, six out of these seven loci plus amelogenin should be present. The Interpol Standard Set of Loci is therefore equivalent to SGM, with a discriminating power of approximately one in 50 million for full profiles from unrelated individuals.

If a DNA profile submitted by an overseas police force matches a profile on the NDNAD, the information supplied to that force is limited to notification that a match has occurred. The match is only followed up by the requesting member state using existing mutual legal assistance arrangements where additional DNA profiling and scientific expertise are used to exclude the possibility of an adventitious match prior to any criminal proceedings.