DNA samples from 1.1milion children held on register as Labour 'plots database by stealth'

Daily Mail 27th February 2009



DNA samples taken from 1.1million children are being held on an ever expanding government database.

The figures, revealed yesterday, show that 1.09million DNA profiles of people aged under 18 were held on the database with 337,000 under 16.

The Metropolitan Police has added the largest number of profiles to the register including 117,000 boys and 33,000 girls.

The new figures come as it was claimed ministers are sneaking sweeping powers to collect and retain more DNA samples.

The Tories said the Government was attempting to give itself a 'blank cheque' to store swabs and fingerprints of criminals and those cleared of wrongdoing.

They claim Labour is trying to expand the amount of biometric data they store without subjecting the controversial plan to full Parliamentary scrutiny.

Jacqui Smith has been forced to reassess the UK's national database after European judges said it was unlawful for police to keep the records of innocent citizens.

Nearly one million people who were arrested for recordable offences but later acquitted or not charged hoped to have their samples deleted as a result of last December's ruling.

The Home Secretary announced that she would publish a response to the court's decision that holding swabs indefinitely was a breach of human rights.

The details of about 4.5million people are held on the database yet one in five - including 40,000 children - has never been charged with an offence.

But in a letter to MPs on the committee studying the Policing and Crime Bill, Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said he wanted to table amendments relating to DNA.

The Tories say these would allow the Government to introduce regulations on the retention and destruction of DNA, photographs, CCTV images, fingerprints and footprints without the need for line-by-line scrutiny in Parliament.

Instead, any measures proposed would be subject only to 'unacceptable' votes in the Commons and the Lords.

Shadow Home Office Minister James Brokenshire said: 'It is typical of this Government that having received a judgment restricting their database state where everyone is treated as a potential suspect, they use it as an opportunity to get more powers with less powers of scrutiny.

'The European Court said that there was a need for greater openness and accountability around the governance of DNA data and the destruction of fingerprints and samples.

'Ministers should act on this and be transparent in what it does rather than shying away from scrutiny which would be the effect of these proposals.'

Ms Smith has indicated that the White Paper on forensic science, to be published this year, will propose limiting the length of time that samples of those convicted of crimes are held.

She is looking at adopting the Scottish system where the records of those acquitted of serious violent and sexual offences are retained for a maximum of five.

She has also suggested entering jails to take samples from serious offenders in prison who were convicted before the national database was created, as well as trawling the country for swabs from those who have been released from jail.

But critics fear she will use the proposed lack of Parliamentary scrutiny to extend the database.

In his letter, Mr Coaker said: 'I cannot emphasise enough the importance of biometric data, DNA in particular, in the identification and detection of offenders.'

The Home Office says the register has proved a key intelligence tool in solving 3,500 cases - including high-profile rapes and murders.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled against the storing of biometric information of innocent people in a case brought by two British men against South Yorkshire Police.