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CLAIRE CURTIS-THOMAS, the MP for Crosby in Merseyside, is an engineer by training, and has built up a record of putting a wide range of important and interesting questions to ministers. Recently she asked Home Office ministers what is being done to monitor the national DNA database that the police are creating, based on samples taken from suspects and crime scenes.

Caroline Flint, whose many responsibilities at the Home Office include policing and crime reduction, replied that an assessment of the usefulness of the DNA database is being carried out through the ongoing evaluation of the Home Office DNA Expansion…

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