The inquiry into the National DNA Database by the Home Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, which was published on Monday, comes after much of the ‘inquiring’ - including by

Just how far will the Home Office go to justify the retention of DNA profiles from people arrested but not found guilty of any crime?

The Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, has opened up a little bit on the successful use of "innocent" DNA profiles to achieve subsequent convictions for serious crimes.

Professor Bernard Silverman, the current President of the Royal Statistical Society, has been appointed Chief Scientific Adviser to the Home Office, it was

The latest data on hospital admissions for assault bring little comfort to the Home Office’s Tackling Knives Action Programme, launched in ten areas in June 2008.

The Home Office maintains that retaining the DNA profiles of innocent people on the DNA database increases the chances of solving future crimes. But what’s the evidence for this?

Did the Home Office ignore the advice of its own advisers over the retention of DNA profiles on the national database?

The bust-up between the Home Office and its drug advisers is the latest in a long series of incidents in which it has shown contempt for scientific advice.

Radio 4's Today programme this morning interviewed Professor Nutt, chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, about politicians’ undermining, and thereby undervaluing, the evidence on the harm done by drugs. 

This week the Government climbed down over its proposals to hold the DNA profiles of innocent people on its database for between six and 12 years.