Suspect check failure embarrasses govt

Data management processes come under attack again

Wednesday, 20, Feb 2008 12:00

Eleven criminal suspects were allowed to commit crimes in Britain because the crown prosecution service (CPS) failed to run checks for 12 months, it has emerged.

The embarrassing admission has prompted criticism from opposition parties over the government's data management, following a series of data security failures in recent months.

Dutch police had requested a DNA check on 2,000 criminal suspects in January 2007 but the data reportedly sat on a desk at the CPS without being processed for a year.

When the check was eventually run 15 individuals were identified, 11 of which had committed a crime in Britain in the last 12 months.

Prime minister Gordon Brown told the Commons attorney general Baroness Scotland had asked the CPS to conduct an inquiry on the issue. He revealed the crimes committed included assault.

A spokesperson from the CPS insisted the failure was not one of data security as the information was always "in a secure building".

He declined to comment further, citing ongoing police investigations. The Conservatives have demanded a statement in the Commons.

"If the government had acted on this information crimes like this could have been prevented," Tory leader David Cameron told Mr Brown in prime minister's questions this lunchtime.

"Why is it that this government is so incompetent when it comes to processing information about criminals? Shouldn't people conclude that this incompetent government simply cannot keep them safe?"

Mr Brown rejected the criticism, pointing out the Dutch police had only been able to ask for the DNA checks because they had been implemented by the government.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg added his voice to the criticism, claiming the government was failing to cope with the "database culture" he says it has created.

"What we learn from this… is that however much faith and money the government puts into new state of the art databases, if you don't have basic human competence then you'll always have these kinds of mistakes," he said on the Today programme.

"This is yet another hammer blow against public confidence, which has been so severely damaged over recent months by the various cases of data losses."

A series of revelations about data security failures followed the announcement in November last year that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) had lost the personal details of 25 million child benefit claimants.

Home affairs select committee chairman Keith Vaz denied suggestions that a "systemic failure" existed within the government.

Speaking on the same programme, he said: "Obviously it is not satisfactory when you have an administrative error leading to serious criminals not being apprehended, but you also have to look at the way in which this data comes from the European Union; the need for computer compatibility; and, frankly, a better need for checks and balances."

He suggested strengthening the Europol system for dealing with crime suspects between EU governments.

"There is a lot of data and we do need new systems of dealing with it… it is a question of how we make sure this data is acted upon quickly," Mr Vaz added.