UK Parliament / Open data

Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

I had the great privilege yesterday to visit the National DNA Database at Hendon and spent a very informative morning. I learnt that there are instances when it is extremely useful to have on file the DNA records of people convicted of a criminal offence. Some detail was gone into about exactly how they were used. However, in the instance that my noble friend talked about, where an innocent person’s records were taken and stored—it could apply to anybody coming through immigration—what provision have the Government made in the design of the database and the way that it operates for the deletion of innocent people’s material. We know that it is very difficult: you have to go to the chief constable and get special agreement from him, which almost never happens. Is the database in any way designed so that deletion can take place without it being an incredibly time-consuming and expensive process? In the light of the European ruling, should not the Government be thinking about that urgently?
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
708 c784 
Session
2008-09
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
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