Simon Burns MP (Conservative) MP for West Chelmsford.

DNA database

Simon told the East Anglian Daily Times 11 January 2007

"I am concerned that there are up to 12,641 people registered with their DNA on the database in Essex who have had no conviction, caution, reprimand or final warning,"

"If the Government believes that it is right that we should all have our DNA on a database then that is a different issue, and they should strive to pass a law to enable this."

"As they have not decided to take this course of action it seems unfair to me and a breach of civil liberties - that they are doing that, in effect, by stealth."

Open Source Software

Signed Early Day Motion 179 Software in Schools 21 November 2006

That this House congratulates the Open University and other schools, colleges and universities for utilising free and open source software to deliver cost-effective educational benefit not just for their own institutions but also the wider community; and expresses concern that Becta and the Department for Education and Skills, through the use of outdated purchasing frameworks, are effectively denying schools the option of benefiting from both free and open source software and the value and experience small and medium ICT companies could bring to the schools market.

Links

News

2007-01-11 - East Anglian Daily Times - Concern as innocent people's DNA on file: Author: Roddy Ashworth; Summary: THE Government has defended its policy on retaining the DNA profiles of innocent people after it came under criticism from an Essex MP. Simon Burns, who represents West Chelmsford in Parliament, claimed keeping genetic data from people who had been arrested by police but then cleared of wrongdoing was a breach of their civil liberties.