§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will bring formal legislation to allow DNA samples collected during the course of a police investigation to be retained, subject to the consent of the person giving the sample.[139099]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeThe consultation paper "Proposals for Revising Legislative Measures on Fingerprints, Footprints and DNA Samples", published on 30 July 1999, proposed allowing retention of DNA samples given voluntarily by members of the public during the course of a police investigation, subject to the volunteers' consent. We intend to introduce legislation on the use of DNA profiling in criminal investigations at the earliest opportunity.