Almost 40,000 innocent children are on the national DNA database – a rise of 15,000 over the past two years, the Home Office said yesterday.

Meg Hillier, a junior minister, said that the figure represented almost 13 per cent of all those aged 10-17 on the database.

The disclosure will fuel the debate over whether people who are arrested but who are never charged, or are subsequently cleared should stay on the national database. A government-appointed body overseeing the database cautioned last month that holding samples of innocent people might be a breach of their human rights.

Ms Hillier said in a written parliamentary answer that figures obtained from the national database and Police National Computer in April showed that there were 349,934 DNA profiles relating to under18s, equivalent to about 303,000 children because of replication rates. “Of those estimated 303,393 persons, 264,297 (87.1 per cent) had a conviction, caution, reprimand or had received a final warning,” she wrote.

Suspects who give samples after being arrested but who are never charged or are later cleared can apply to the investigating force’s chief constable, who can agree to remove the listing in exceptional circumstances.

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