§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will describe the use of the new convictions index held on the police national computer; whether the index will be linked to the criminal names index; what are the projected size of the convictions index, the anticipated access rates and performance of the index; and when the index will be fully operational.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe convictions file, which will be linked to the criminal names file, is intended to help the police with their operational duties, including the provision of information to the courts. When it becomes available in 1987, it is expected to contain details of 2.5 million convictions recorded since 1981. It is not possible at this stage to provide an accurate estimate of the extent to which the police will use this new facility, which is expected to have a response time of about five seconds.