To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many samples have been added to the DNA database in each police authority area in the last five years; and how many of those samples were for people who were not subsequently convicted of a criminal offence.

holding answer 28 February 2011

DNA samples are not in themselves added to the National DNA Database (NDNAD), they are analysed and converted into a DNA profile which is then added to the NDNAD. The following table shows the number of subject DNA profiles held on the NDNAD by each of the police forces in England and Wales as at 31 December 2010.

These data are based on a snapshot of the NDNAD as at 31 December 2010. The data are management information and have not been formally assessed for compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

The most recent figures available for England and Wales show that at 31 March 2010 there were an estimated 4,946,613 persons on the NDNAD, of whom 22 % (an estimated 1,083,207 persons) did not have a current conviction, caution, formal warning or reprimand recorded on PNC. A breakdown by force is not available.