Written question asked by Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 28 October 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 1 November 2005. It was answered by Hazel Blears (Labour) on Tuesday, 22 November 2005 on behalf of the Home Office.

Criminal Records Bureau

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) average and (b) maximum time was taken to process (i) a Criminal Records Bureau check, (ii) a full protection of vulnerable adults check (POVA) and (iii) a POVA first check in the last year for which figures are available.

Answer: The Criminal Records Bureau's (CRB's) performance for standard disclosures has consistently exceeded the target of 93 per cent. issued within two weeks. This is because the processing of a standard disclosure is entirely within the direct control of the CRB.However, the performance for enhanced disclosures is currently below its target of processing 90 per cent. within four weeks. This is because enhanced disclosures involve an additional level of check by police forces and the CRB relies on forces to complete their checks efficiently.During the period October 2004 to September 2005, the average processing time for a CRB check was 26.09 days. The average processing time has been calculated to include time out with the customer. The maximum length of time taken to process a check during this period was 356 days.There are no data available to determine the average or maximum time taken to process a full POVA check or a POVA first check, because these figures are not collated centrally. However, during the aforementioned period, 95.1 per cent. of POVA first checks were completed within 48 hours and 97.5 per cent. were completed within 72 hours against service standards of 98 per cent. and 100 per cent. respectively.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 24173; 439 c1920-1W;439 c1922W
Session: 2005-06
Subjects: Children Administrative delays Protection Vetting Vulnerable adults Criminal Records Bureau
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk