The National DNA Database (NDNAD) was established in 1995, when responsibility for the operational management of the NDNAD rested with the Forensic Science Service (FSS) on behalf of the police service. No central records of costs relating to the maintenance of the NDNAD are held prior to 2002, as cost data was incorporated in other costs incurred by the FSS.
In December 2005 the FSS was vested as a Government Owned Company and responsibility for the NDNAD transferred from the FSS to the Home Office. On 1 April 2007 responsibility for the NDNAD transferred from the Home Office to the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA).
The costs relating to the maintenance of the NDNAD from 2002-09 are given in the following tables. The costs from 2006-07 are higher than for previous years, because of the complete separation of costs from the FSS, and because the increase in the number of forensic suppliers requires additional resources for accreditation and continuous monitoring. In addition, the costs for 2008-09 include the costs of transferring the physical operation and maintenance of the NDNAD from the FSS to the NPIA (“NDNAD Transition”).
It is not possible to break these figures down into capital and running costs.
£ 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 NDNAD Services costs 774,304 904,385 1,276,823 1,245,151 Supplier accreditation costs 320,507 388,047 433,828 459,192 Total 1,094,811 1,292,432 1,710,651 1,704,343
£ 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 NDNAD Service delivery including delivery of IT development projects 2,041,743 1,600,087 1,818,362 Custodian accreditation1 527,677 574,817 1,512,138 NDNAD transition n/a n/a 960,000 Total 2,569,420 2,174,904 4,290,500 1 Custodian accreditation costs prior to 2008-09 are the direct programme costs of the Custodian Accreditation programme and do not include the NPIA staff costs for NDNAD management, administration and data quality. These additional costs have however been included in the figures for 2008-09 onwards.