§ Mr. Hector Hughesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the circumstances in which British and Irish citizens are obliged to have their fingerprints taken by the police or any Government official.
§ Mr. R. A. ButlerThe fingerprints of any person over the age of fourteen who is detained in police custody and charged with an offence before a magistrates' court may be taken compulsorily by order of the court. In the case of convicted criminal prisoners they may be taken compulsorily at any time during their imprisonment, and in the case of untried criminal prisoners they may be taken100W compulsorily where an application by a senior police officer has been approved by a justice of the peace or by order of the Secretary of State. There are no other circumstances in which the police or officials for whom I am responsible have authority to take the fingerprints of British subjects or citizens of the Irish Republic compulsorily.