§ Dr. Marekasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the new index referred to in his reply to the hon. Member for Leyton (Mr. Cohen), Official Report, 22 March, column 560, will allow a reference to, or a 377W connection with, information held on computerised criminal information systems of other police forces in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. WaddingtonUnder present arrangements, the police national computer provides a facility for individual police forces to indicate by means of a reference number that a person whose name is held on the PNC criminal names file is also the subject of a record held by that force. These references, which are displayed when inquiries are made of the criminal names file, will be displayed also when inquiries are made of the new convictions file. The convictions file will not, however, provide direct access to data held on force computer systems.
§ Dr. Marekasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what codes of guidance or manuals of procedure governing the holding of and access to information are held on criminal information computer systems; and if he will place a copy of any such codes or manuals or any relevant document describing those codes or manuals in the Library.
§ Mr. WaddingtonA copy of Home Office circular No. 10/1984 enclosing guidelines on the control of computerised personal data obtained during major crime investigations is in the Library of the House. The Department has also issued two volumes of a manual of guidance concerned with data standards for criminal information systems and a memorandum on the security of the police national computer and force computers connected to it. It would not be right to place these documents in the Library of the House. The manual of guidance contains information which could be used to counter police activities in the prevention and detection of crime. The memorandum on security contains information which could be used to compromise the relevant security arrangements.
§ Dr. Marekasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make it his policy to collect and hold centrally complete and up-to-date information on the computer facilities available in each police force.
(2) if he will call for reports from chief constables on whether they have obtained or whether they plan to obtain a computer system that deals with criminal information; and which of these systems will be connected to the police national computer.
§ Mr. WaddingtonI refer the hon. Member to the fifth edition of "Police Use of Computers", issued by the Association of Chief Police Officers, a copy of which is in the Library of the House. It is proposed to update this report annually.