§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what evidence he has of abuses of the police national computer by private detection agencies; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggMy right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney General informs me that the inquiries to which he referred in his reply to the hon. Member on 30 January (Official Report, c. 406) are continuing. We are not aware of any other allegations of abuse of information held on the police national computer by private detection agencies.
§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria underline the Government's decision to provide for the non accessible retention of computer fingerprint records rather than their destruction; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggAutomatic fingerprint recognition systems rely for their efficacy on being able to search automatically a database of fingerprint images held on optical discs or other storage media. There are serious technical difficulties in trying to destroy an image held on such a database without adversely affecting adjacent images. The only practical way of ensuring that a particular fingerprint image is not accessible by an operator is by destroying the reference to it in the index to the database and this is what is proposed in clause 112 of the Criminal Justice Bill.