Overlooked - Liberty

66 Overlooked: Surveillance and personal privacy in modern Britain
6. The National DNA Database
In an answer to a parliamentary question from the Conservative MP Mark Pritchard on 20 June
2007, the Home office Minster Joan Ryan confirmed that as of 10 June 2007 there were an
estimated 3,976,090 people who had samples retained on the National DNA database (the
‘Database’ or the ‘NDNAD’) 139 . This equates to 5.2 per cent of the population. The UK’s NDNAD
holds five times the percentage of the population as the next largest (Austria) and is ten times the
proportion of the USA’s database.
In recent years the NDNAD has increasingly become an issue of privacy interest. The use of DNA
as a tool in criminal investigation dates from the late 80s. The database itself came into existence in
1995. At first only samples from those convicted of certain offences were retained on the database.
Since then legislative changes have greatly increased the scope of entry onto the register. As a
consequence, anyone now arrested for a recordable offence 140
can have their DNA taken and
permanently retained. This has resulted in ever-increasing numbers of people who have never been
convicted, cautioned or even charged with an offence being entered on the register. Five per cent
of the UK’s population are now in the register. This is five times the proportion of any other country.
The growth of the database has made conflict with privacy principles inevitable.
The NDAD undoubtedly raises profound legal and ethical concerns. Of particular concern is the
permanent retention of the DNA of everyone who is arrested and the severe over-representation of
young black males in the samples currently contained in the Database. Consequential to this are the
potential uses that DNA information might be used for. Such issues have, however, received
surprisingly little political attention. The Database was established without any Parliamentary debate
and the political discourse has since been dominated by Government claims about the utility of the
NDNAD in tackling crime.
Debate over ID cards and CCTV has remained consistently high on the public agenda. It has also
been relatively balanced in that proponents and critics will usually be debating the same points. A
139
Parliamentary Question 114068 20 June 2007.
140
Recordable offences are generally those which can result in a custodial sentence.