Personal Sampling

Jim Dowd
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance he has issued to police forces on the retention of personal samples of individuals who are arrested but not subsequently charged with any offence.

Mr. McNulty
The Association of Chief Police Officers issued guidance to Chief Officers on the consideration of applications for the deletion of DNA samples, fingerprints and a record on the Police National Computer earlier this year, entitled ‘Retention guidelines for nominal records on the Police National Computer’.

The then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham), made a written ministerial statement on the guidance on 16 February 2006 and copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.