Mr. LlywdTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many representations he has received from police authorities on the capital funding for the establishment of DNA databases; and if he will make a statement. [16785]
§ Mr. MacleanOf the representations made to the Government by police authorities or chief officers on their grant for 1995–96, 10 have made reference, either directly or indirectly, to costs arising from police use of the DNA database. The Association of Metropolitan Authorities has also made representations on behalf of the metropolitan forces.
The costs and benefits to the police of the database have been taken fully into account in our assessment of future police spending requirements. Additional capital provision of £2.5 million is being made available to the forensic science service to launch the operational service and will be recovered over time as a component of the charge to the police for processing each sample. But costs to the police will ultimately be determined by the use they make of the service, and that will be a decision for individual chief officers on their assessment of the balance of costs and benefits.