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The government says its plans to set the length of time it stores arrested citizens' DNA profiles to six years are still on track, despite reports to the contrary.
A report yesterday in the Guardian said that the government may exclude the plans for DNA storage from the Crime and Security Bill in order for the legislation to be passed quickly, before the General Election is called this spring.
The report goes on to suggest that home secretary Alan Johnson is instead gearing up to make it an election issue, hoping to use his party's hardline stance to accuse the Tories of being soft on crime.
However, a Home Office spokeswoman denied the Guardian report.
"The DNA proposals are on track," she said.
"The DNA database is a vital tool for protecting the public and bringing offenders to justice, and retaining profiles is a crucial aspect of that," she said.
"Retaining profiles on the database helps provide thousands of crime scene matches every year, especially in the detection of many violent and serious acquisitive crimes where physical contact occurs.
"We therefore believe that the proposals currently before Parliament represent the most proportionate approach to DNA retention, as well as the most effective way of ensuring the database continues to help us tackle crime."
The government has been strongly opposed in its proposals by the Conservative Party, which believes England and Wales should follow the Scottish system, whereby everyone except those accused of violent and sexual crimes have their DNA records removed immediately.
At present the government holds the DNA records of those arrested indefinitely, even if they are not convicted of a crime. This is despite a European Court of Human Rights ruling two years ago that blanket retention of DNA records regardless is unlawful.
17 Mar 2010
