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11 Oct 2007 : Column 716W—continued
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether DNA records of citizens who have not been convicted of a crime are accessible to all police forces nationally; and if she will make a statement. [156640]
Meg Hillier: A non-convicted individual’s DNA record will be accessed by the police only if it matches a record subsequently loaded from a crime scene or another individual.
The purpose of the National DNA Database (NDNAD) is to hold a record of a person’s DNA which can be matched against DNA taken from crime scenes. The database can also match DNA taken from different crime scenes. The police do not have direct access to the records on the database, and receive reports on people on it only if their DNA matches DNA from a crime scene. This is true both for those convicted of a crime and those not convicted. Matches between two apparently different individuals may also occur. The usual reason is that a profile for a person has been loaded on more than one occasion (one reason for this is that the person gave different names, or different versions of their name, on separate arrests).
There may be an innocent explanation for someone’s presence at a crime scene, so a match report is simply a piece of intelligence leading to further inquiries. If a match between DNA from a crime scene and DNA from an individual is found, a report of the match is sent to the police forces which loaded the crime scene data and the individual data, to make further inquiries.
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many DNA files are kept on citizens who have not been charged with the offence for which they were apprehended. [156642]
Meg Hillier: The national DNA database (NDNAD) records the DNA profile for a particular individual. It does not hold data on arrest and criminal records. This information is held on the police national computer (PNC). Obtaining the information sought would require cross searching of records held on the PNC against the NDNAD, which could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Imports: Primates
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 17 July 2007, Official Report, column 766W, on imports: primates, whether the Nafovanny Breeding Centre in Vietnam has been accepted as a source of non-human primates for the UK for a further two-year period; and if she will make a statement. [156254]
Meg Hillier: Nafovanny is currently acceptable to the Home Office as a source of non-human primates for use in regulated procedures in the UK. The acceptance is valid until 31 August 2008. All overseas breeding centres wishing to supply non-human primates to the UK for scientific use are subject to periodic review and visits by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate to ensure that standards of animal care and accommodation meet acceptable standards.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many primates were imported into the UK for the purposes of scientific research from each other EU member state in (a) 2005 and (b) 2006. [156410]
Meg Hillier: Details of non-human primates acquired from EU member states for use by designated establishments licensed under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in 2005 and 2006 are shown in the following table. Authority to import animals is granted by DEFRA.
| Source | 2005 | 2006 |
Personation
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make a statement on the incidence of identity theft. [156886]
Meg Hillier: Identity theft and the fraudulent use of identity details is an extremely serious issue, and in 2003, we set up a public-private sector work programme to tackle all aspects of this problem.
Since this time, we have strengthened legislation and introduced tougher criminal penalties, provided more powers to share data to combat fraud, sought to ensure better co-ordination in prosecuting fraudsters, and worked extensively to raise public awareness of this issue. Our plans for a National Identity Scheme will provide people with a highly secure means of protecting their identity and help citizens to prove their identities easily, quickly, simply and with vastly improved security.
The range of activities that we are undertaking are vital if we are to protect ourselves from the misuse of identity through organised crime, illegal immigration and working, and fraudulent access to public services.
Police: Firearms
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times police armed response units were deployed in each police force area in England and Wales in each of the last 10 years; and how many and what percentage of those incidents resulted in a police officer discharging their weapon. [156482]
Mr. McNulty: The information is not available centrally in the form requested. The number of police operations in which firearms were authorised to be used in each force area in the last 10 years, and the overall number of incidents where a conventional firearm was used, are shown in the following tables.
| Number of operations in which firearms were authorised | ||||||||||
| 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
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