The following table shows the number of subject profiles loaded to the National DNA Database (NDNAD) in each of the last five years and the current year to date, as at 16 September 2008, for English and Welsh police forces, relating to persons who were (a) under 13 and (b) between (i) 13 and 15, (ii) 16 and 18 and (iii) 19 and 21 at the time the DNA sample was taken; and the estimated number of individuals to which these relate.
The number of subject profiles held is not the same as the number of individuals with a profile on the NDNAD. 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, which at present is 13.3 per cent. for the whole NDNAD.
2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 1 April to 16 September 2008 Profiles Under 13 10,853 12,983 16,315 17,300 14,885 6,053 13-15 45,180 55,397 71,144 73,626 59,896 24,505 16-18 59,406 66,959 86,066 88,528 70,461 30,936 19-21 52,338 53,422 71,020 73,676 59,076 25,709 Estimated individuals Under 13 9,410 11,256 14,145 14,999 12,905 5,248 13-15 39,171 48,029 61,682 63,834 51,930 21,246 16-18 51,505 58,053 74,619 76,754 61,090 26,822 19-21 45,377 46,317 61,574 63,877 51,219 22,290
The process for adding information to the National DNA Database (NDNAD) has a number of elements, the costs of which fall to different parties. The process initially involves police taking a sample of a person’s cells (usually by means of a swab of the inside of the cheek), following which the sample is sent to a forensic supplier who processes it to produce a profile. This is a numerical sequence representing a small part of the person’s DNA. The profile is then added to the NDNAD, which operates to match profiles taken from individuals with those found at crime scenes.
The costs of taking and processing the sample fall to individual police forces. They vary depending on the contractual relationship between the force and the forensic supplier, which is commercially confidential.
The costs of operating the NDNAD and accrediting forensic suppliers fell, between 1995 and 2005 to the Forensic Science Service, between December 2005 and March 2007 to the Home Office, and since April 2007, to the National Policing Improvement Agency. For information on these costs, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (Mr. Prentice) on 1 September 2008, Official Report, columns 1566-67W.