Policing and Crime Bill

My Lords, we support this amendment. We believe that the Scottish model provides a good starting point and a good model. We share a great deal of the scepticism of the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Jones, about whether the legislation, if it comes in during the next Session, will get on to the statute book before any election. It is very urgent to fulfil the terms of the European Court. We ought, in any case, to have a regime that we can be proud of. We also believe that there should be a separate scheme for the retention of DNA taken from those under 18. If, having had the experience of the Scottish model, we were going to make any improvements at all to it, we would want to do something more about samples from people who are totally innocent—anyone who has been, for example, wrongfully arrested, and therefore not cautioned, and certainly not convicted. With those caveats, we support the amendment.