Minister makes fingerprint call

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A Home Office minister has called for wider use of biometric fingerprinting of criminals across Europe to improve the exchange of crime record details.

Joan Ryan believes the move would ensure the information was accurate.

Last week, it emerged hundreds of people who had committed offences abroad were not placed on the Police National Computer (PNC).

It has now emerged nine more people convicted of crimes abroad applied for vetting by the Criminal Records Bureau.

One of the big issues is about identification Home Office minister Joan Ryan

The Home Office minister made the comments after a meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Dresden, Germany, which had discussed improving the exchange of information across Europe.

Ms Ryan said: "One of the big issues is about identification - identifying the exact person who has been convicted of that criminal offence.

"And one of the things I have been asking my European colleagues for here is that we make it mandatory that fingerprints, biometric information, are included as part of the exchange of information .

"By that route we will be able to identify the individual responsible without doubt and ensure that our records are kept up to date and are wholly and totally accurate."

The fallout

On Monday, Sir David Normington told the Commons public accounts committee ministers "didn't get told what was happening".

A Home Office official was subsequently suspended after it emerged there was a backlog of files on 27,000 cases which should be on the PNC.

The unnamed senior civil servant was suspended after offering information to the inquiry.

The Tories then accused ministers of "hiding" the truth on the crisis.

Home Secretary John Reid then revealed he was planning an overhaul of databases carrying details of criminal convictions.

Slipped through the net

Mr Reid, Ms Ryan and Police Minister Tony McNulty have insisted they were not told of the backlog in notifications of British criminals' European convictions or police requests for resources to clear it.

But they have accepted that meetings took place between department officials and police about the problem.

The Association of Chief Police Officers, (Acpo) which now has responsibility for updating police records, sent a letter to Mr McNulty in October warning of the difficulties in processing notifications.

That was then passed on to Ms Ryan, who has responsibility for the Criminal Records Bureau.

Of the 27,000 case files involved in the backlog, 540 were for serious or violent offences.

It has been confirmed that four drug offenders and a people smuggler had passed Criminal Records Bureau checks to work with children or vulnerable adults.

But no violent or sexual offenders appear to have slipped through the net.