§ Mr. Macleanasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the present criteria for weeding the criminal names index of the police national computer and records of criminal convictions held by the national identification bureau; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HurdThe weeding criteria have recently been changed so as to reduce substantially the number of criminal records held centrally without significantly impairing police effectiveness.
The previous criteria which were given in detail in reply to a question from the hon. Member for Leyton (Mr. Cohen) on 28 June 1985, at columns 523–24, required records of those who had committed a single minor offence to be kept until the offender was 40 years old and records for those who had committed more than one offence to be kept until they were 70 years old. Under the new criteria these age limits are removed and records will be weeded where offenders have not come to notice for 20 years since the last conviction, whatever the number of convictions before that. This will result in the deletion of a large number of names and records of people who have committed more than one offence in their youth, who have not re-offended for 20 years but whose records would otherwise have been kept until they were 70 years old. Records will not be deleted, however, if they include evidence of mental illness or indecency, custodial sentences of more than six months, or offences of homicide.