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Genetics: Databases

Volume 481: debated on Thursday 23 October 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals who were (a) under 13 and (b) between (i) 13 and 15, (ii) 16 and 18 and (iii) 19 and 21 years of age had their DNA profiles added to the National DNA Database in each financial year for which records are available. (214981)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was of adding DNA samples to the National DNA database in each year since 1995. (215821)

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.