To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have information about the ethnicity of those whose data are included in the national DNA database; and, if so, whether they will publish the information. [HL278]

The National DNA Database (NDNAD) does not hold self-reported ethnicity data, but data on the “ethnic appearance” of persons who have a DNA profile on the database. The ethnic appearance data have six broad ethnic categories plus “unknown”. They are based on the judgment of the police officer taking the sample and are recorded for police intelligence purposes to assist in subsequent identification. The ethnic appearance data have only been recorded for volunteer samples since 2005.

The table below shows the number of DNA profiles on the NDNAD broken down by ethnic appearance, as at 16 October 2009. “Unknown” means that no ethnic appearance was recorded by the officer taking the sample. The number of profiles held is not the same as the number of individuals. This is because some profiles are replicates—ie, more than one profile is held for one individual. This may occur if, for example, an individual gives different names, or different versions of their name, on separate arrests. It is estimated that 13.8 per cent of the subject profiles held on the entire NDNAD are replicates.

Data on the number of subject profiles retained on the NDNAD broken down by ethnic appearance are published in the NDNAD annual reports. The latest annual report for 2007-09 is published on the NPIA website at http://www.npia.police.uk/en/14399.htm.

(1) The table shows data on profiles loaded by all forces (England and Wales, Scotland, PSNI, plus other forces such as Joint Armed Services, Isle of Man, Jersey, et cetera).

(2) The ethnic appearance categories were renamed during 2008-09. The new category names are shown in the table.

(3) The number of “unknowns” is partly accounted for by Scotland, which does not record ethnic appearance data.