My Lords, the Government are committed to taking and retaining the DNA of people convicted of crime. This is particularly important for offences of a violent or sexual nature, where the transfer of DNA between victim and assailant makes the transfer of DNA more likely. Taking DNA helps solve historic cases and may deter future offending. The Government have supported wider powers to take DNA and fingerprints from those with past convictions. Armed with those powers, the police have carried out Operation Nutmeg, which involves taking DNA from those convicted of historic sexual and violent offences who were not sampled at the time.
As a result, DNA from more than 6,700 convicted offenders has been added to the DNA database. These include 1,494 people convicted of indecently assaulting a child, 304 convicted of gross indecency with a child, and 105 child rapists. However, the operation has brought to light an anomaly in the treatment of those convicted of sexual offences under past legislation compared with those convicted of equivalent offences under current legislation. This order addresses the anomaly and deals with a small number of other serious offences.
The need for the order arises from the way in which the Crime and Security Act 2010 gave the police powers to take DNA and fingerprints from those with past convictions if this had not been done at the time of the original arrest and conviction. This Act received Royal Assent in April 2010 and was brought into effect in March 2011. It created a list of qualifying offences. These are more serious offences, mainly sexual and violent.
The list of qualifying offences contains offences under current legislation, but not legislation which has been repealed. This particularly affects sexual offences, as the Sexual Offences Act 1956 was largely repealed and replaced by the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which came into effect in May 2004. So, for example, someone convicted of rape before 2003 has a conviction under the 1956 Act, but this is not a qualifying offence. However, someone convicted of rape in 2005 has a conviction under the 2003 Act, which is such an offence—hence the anomaly which this order seeks to address.
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If people have past convictions for qualifying offences, the Act allows the police to take their DNA and fingerprints at any time if this was not done at the time of the original arrest and conviction. However, for those with convictions for other offences, this power lapsed two years after the Act was brought into effect—that is, in March 2013. The effect of this is that, since March, though there is a power to take DNA and fingerprints from a person with a 2005 conviction who was not sampled at the time, there is no such a power in relation to a person with a pre-2003 conviction. The order remedies this anomaly by adding sexual offences under repealed legislation to the list of qualifying offences. The order also puts those arrested or charged in the present day with sexual offences committed before May 2004, when the 2003 Act came into force, on the same footing as those arrested or charged with offences committed since then.
As noble Lords will know, under the new regime to be introduced by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 on 31 October, people arrested for or charged with, but not convicted for, qualifying offences may have their DNA and fingerprints retained for a limited period. In the case of those arrested but not charged, they may be retained for three years if the Biometrics Commissioner consents. In the case of those charged, they will be retained automatically for three years.
It can be seen that, as the law currently stands, these provisions will apply to a person arrested for or charged with a sexual offence committed after May 2004, which will fall under the 2003 Act. Noble Lords will realise that a person currently arrested for or charged with a sexual offence committed before May 2004 must be dealt with under the 1956 Act, because this is the Act that was in force at the time of the offence. So such a person cannot have their DNA and fingerprints retained for the additional three years if they are not convicted. By putting offences under the 1956 Act on the qualifying offences list, people currently arrested and charged with sexual offences will be subject to the same retention rules whenever the offence was committed.
The order also adds certain offences involving homicide, such as war crimes, infanticide and child destruction, to the list, for consistency with murder and manslaughter which are already qualifying offences. It also adds rioting and female genital mutilation because of the seriousness of those offences. This is a practical measure, as I hope that I have demonstrated, to remove some anomalies in the existing legislation which I hope will command the Committee’s general support. I beg to move.