OVER 10,000 WEST MIDS CHILDREN ON DNA DATABASE - LIZ LYNNE

12.00.00am GMT Mon 12th Nov 2007

Over 10,000 West Midlands children under the age of 16 currently under have their details on the Government's DNA database. The shocking figures uncovered recently by the Liberal Democrats have alarmed one Euro MP who has written to the European Commission to ask if this infringes their human rights under EU law in any way.

Speaking today, local Euro MP Liz Lynne said:

"These figures highlight the gross intrusion into the lives of our children, often without parental consent, that this database represents. For this reason I decided to investigate if this allowed under EU law.

"Across the country almost 150,000 children's DNA is on this database, and as it stands it will remain on file for life, despite the fact that many thousands of them will have never been found guilty of any crime.

"Adding a child's most personal information on the grounds of accusation alone to the government's monolithic computer system has to stop. There has to be a proportionate and sensible way of using this technology, but unfortunately the government has yet to come up with one."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

On the 12th of November 2007 , Liz Lynne tabled the following parliamentary question to the European Commission:

Is the Commission aware that almost 150,000 children's DNA records are currently held on the UK government's database and will be held for life, yet many of the children will have never been found guilty of any crime?

Does the Commission find this to be a proportionate use of DNA recording technology and could it clarify if there is any EU legislation which this may contravene?

While almost 150,000 children nationally are on the database, there are wide variations between forces, with Northamptonshire retaining just 845 DNA profiles of under-16s, West Midlands Police holding 10,000 and the Metropolitan Police have over 16,000.

The number of samples taken may be even higher, as figures show the current age of the individual sampled, rather than their age at the time.