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29 Sep 2008 : Column 2342W—continued
| End August 2008 | Subject Profiles under 18s | Subject Profiles all ages | ||||||
| Ethnic appearance | English and Welsh forces | Per cent. in each ethnic appearance group | West Yorkshire | Per cent. in each ethnic appearance group | English and Welsh forces | Per cent. in each ethnic appearance group | West Yorkshire | Per cent. in each ethnic appearance group |
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many DNA profiles on the national DNA database are of people resident in (a) the UK, (b) Leeds West constituency, (c) Leeds Metropolitan District and (d) Yorkshire and Humberside; [213353]
(2) what proportion of the population in (a) Leeds West constituency and (b) Leeds Metropolitan District has a profile on the national DNA database. [220709]
Meg Hillier: Information held on the National DNA Database (NDNAD) is available on the basis of the police force which added the DNA profile, not the residence of the person sampled. Information is, therefore, not available on the number of residents of Leeds, West constituency or Leeds metropolitan district, or the proportion of the population of those areas, who have had a DNA profile added to the NDNAD. Information is, however, available on the number of profiles loaded by the Yorkshire and Humberside police forces, as shown in the following table.
The people from whom these profiles were taken may not be resident in the area where they were sampled.
The number of profiles held on the NDNAD is not the same as the number of individuals. As it is possible for a profile to be loaded onto the NDNAD on more than one occasion, some profiles held on the NDNAD are replicates. This can occur, for example, if the person provided different names, or different versions of their name, on separate arrests, or because profiles are upgraded.
At present, the national replication rate is 13.3 per cent., that is, the number of people whose details are loaded is 13.3 per cent. fewer than the number of profiles. However, this rate may vary between police forces, so figures for the number of individuals whose profiles have been loaded are not given for specific police forces.
The total number of subject profiles held on the NDNAD for all police forces at 30 June 2008 was 5,193,986. Allowing for replication, this equates to approximately 4,503,186 individuals. The corresponding figures for English and Welsh police forces are 4,872,376 profiles and approximately 4,224,350 individuals.
| Force | Number of subject profiles |
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many individuals' data were held on the National DNA Database in each financial year for which records are available; [214979]
(2) how many social profiles were held on the National DNA Database in each financial year for which records are available. [214980]
Meg Hillier: The National DNA Database (NDNAD) is a continually changing database, so it is not possible to give the total number of profiles held on it at the end of each year retrospectively. However, the number of profiles added to it by English and Welsh police forces in each year since its inception is available. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (David Davis) on 2 June 2008, Official Report, column 733W.
As it is possible for a person's profile to be loaded onto the NDNAD on more than one occasion, some profiles held on the NDNAD are replicates. This can occur, for example, if the person provided different names, or different versions of their name, on separate arrests, or because profiles are upgraded.
Therefore, the number of individuals on the NDNAD is the number of subject profiles reduced by the replication rate. At present, the replication rate is 13.3 per cent., so the 541,920 subject profiles added to the NDNAD in 2007-08 equates to an estimated 469,845 individuals. However, the replication rate has varied over time, so it is not possible to provide a figure for the number of individuals added to the NDNAD for all years since 1995.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many requests she has received from other European member states for a crosscheck of a DNA sample against profiles on the national DNA database in the last five years. [219322]
Jacqui Smith: The number of requests received from all other countries to check profiles from unsolved serious crimes, or for the identification of an unknown deceased person believed to be a United Kingdom national, carried out by the National DNA Database (NDNAD) Custodian in each year since 2004-05, is shown in the table.
| Number of searches | |
Before 2004, requests were rare, so no data was collated. The figures do not include the country of origin of the request, so it is not possible to tell which were from EU member states and which from other countries.
The figures do not include requests which were received but not approved and processed.
Most requests for the exchange of DNA information between the United Kingdom and other countries are routed through the United Kingdom National Central Bureau for Interpol (UK NCB) based at the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). Other channels may include bilateral direct liaison between law enforcement authorities and formal mutual legal assistance channels. Exchanges of DNA information via these channels will almost always be a response to the needs of a specific criminal investigation.
Requests from international law enforcement agencies for a search of the NDNAD are only processed where it is clear that the request is in the interest of prevention and detection of crime, national security or the data subject. They are also subject to a risk assessment, taking into account the justification for and proportionality of disclosure of the information in line with human rights. If cleared for processing, a one-off speculative search of NDNAD is made by the Custodian and information fed back to UK NCB.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what assessment she has made of the probability of an adventitious match between DNA profiles submitted by law enforcement agencies of other member states and DNA profiles held on the national DNA database arising from the use of the six loci standard; [219480]
(2) what assessment she has made of the accuracy of the Interpol Standard Set of Loci (ISSOL) in comparing DNA profiles; and what assessment she has made of the differences between ISSOL and the standard in use in the UK; [219481]
(3) what assessment her Department has made of the accuracy of the six loci DNA comparison standard for sharing of DNA data. [219487]
Jacqui Smith: The greater the number of different areas of DNA (loci) examined by a DNA profiling system, the higher the level of accuracy.
When the United Kingdom National DNA Database (NDNAD) was set up in 1995, the SGM system was used, which looked at six loci plus amelogenin (the area showing the person’s gender). In 1999, SGM was replaced by SGM Plus, which looks at 10 loci plus the gender area. The probability of an adventitious (chance) match
between full SGM DNA profiles of unrelated individuals is of the order of one in 50 million. The quoted probability of a match between full SGM Plus DNA profiles of unrelated individuals is one in one billion (i.e. one in a thousand million). The NDNAD Custodian carefully monitors replicate DNA profiles loaded to the NDNAD, and a key reason for doing this is to identify potential adventitious matches between SGM Plus DNA profiles derived from unrelated individuals. To date, no such adventitious match has been found. This indicates the SGM Plus match probability to be significantly lower than the figure quoted—it is probably better than one in one trillion (that is, one in a million million).
It was decided when SGM Plus was introduced that it was not value for money to reanalyse all the samples taken between 1995 and 1999 to upgrade them from SGM to SGM Plus. However, if a match occurs involving an SGM profile, or a partial crime scene profile, the original samples are routinely reanalysed using SGM Plus to provide the best possible match.
The Interpol Standard Set of Loci include seven loci plus amelogenin. Six of the seven loci are the same as in the SGM system. In order to carry out an Interpol search, six out of these seven loci plus amelogenin should be present. The Interpol Standard Set of Loci is therefore equivalent to SGM, with a discriminating power of approximately one in 50 million for full profiles from unrelated individuals.
If a DNA profile submitted by an overseas police force matches a profile on the NDNAD, the information supplied to that force is limited to notification that a match has occurred. The match is only followed up by the requesting member state using existing mutual legal assistance arrangements where additional DNA profiling and scientific expertise are used to exclude the possibility of an adventitious match prior to any criminal proceedings.
Government Departments: Personal Records
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Government services require individuals to provide personal information to Government departments and agencies. [203703]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Human Trafficking
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many suspected (a) people traffickers and (b) trafficking victims have been intercepted in maritime operations by (i) the UK Border Agency and (ii) other agencies engaged in border patrol in each of the last three years. [220114]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested can be obtained only by the detailed examination of individual records at disproportionate cost.
Identity Cards: Aviation
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the potential advantages and disadvantages of the use of identity cards in the airline industry against existing security arrangements. [223368]
Meg Hillier
[holding answer 10 September 2008]: Stephen Boys Smith’s report on personnel security in the transport sector considered the use of identity cards
in the aviation industry and concluded that identity cards are a useful addition to identity assurance, which is a key factor in personnel security regimes.
The Government are working closely with the aviation industries and trade unions to ensure that the identity card complements the existing pre-employment checking arrangements and we will be publishing an Impact Assessment in the next few months.
Identity Cards: Foreigners
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of foreign nationals in the UK who will hold a biometric registration document by June 2010. [218887]
Mr. Byrne: The exact numbers of cards held by foreign nationals in June 2010 will depend on individual applications, the categories included in the scheme and the speed of implementation.
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