§ Lord Greavesasked Her Majesty's Government:
When fingerprint records of asylum seekers are destroyed and removed from databases. [HL1630]
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Rooker)The current legislation provides that fingerprints taken from an asylum seeker should be destroyed as soon as reasonably practicable after they are granted indefinite leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom. Until the introduction of the computerised fingerprint system in December 2000, it was not practicable routinely to weed and destroy prints. We are now taking a power within the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Bill which will allow such prints to be retained for 10 years. New functionality in the computerised fingerprint system will make it possible to identify and destroy prints after 10 years.