Genetics: Databases

Chris Huhne
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of cases resulting in conviction secured to date in which evidence based on DNA profiles from the national DNA database was used (a) of those without a previous conviction and (b) not found at the scene of a crime.

Jacqui Smith
In relation to part (a), information on the number of crimes resulting in convictions in which DNA subject sample profiles on the National DNA Database (NDNAD) taken from persons with no previous convictions were a contributory factor is not collected centrally.

In relation to part (b), all detected crimes, in which a DNA match played a part in solving the crime, would involve a match between a subject sample profile (taken from an arrested person) and a crime scene sample profile believed to have been left by the offender at the scene of a crime.