Written question asked by Mike Hancock (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 9 July 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 16 July 2003. It was answered by Lord Hutton of Furness (Labour) on Wednesday, 16 July 2003 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of delays in handling checks by the Criminal Records Bureau on the NHS. - Inc figures.

Answer: Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effect of delays in handling checks by the Criminal Records Bureau on the NHS. [125557] Mr. Hutton: The national health service has faced some minor problems when recruiting new staff--as a result of the operating difficulties at the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB). We have agreed a number of arrangements with the CRB to expedite the clearance of disclosure applications for NHS staff. The performance of the CRB has now greatly improved. In the week ending 5 July, the CRB issued 95 per cent., of standard disclosures within two weeks and 94 per cent. of enhanced disclosures within four weeks, against a service standard of 90 per cent. in each case. These arrangements and the CRB's improved performance has enabled the NHS to manage delays at the CRB without any significant adverse effect on patient services.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 125557; 409 c409W
Session: 2002-03
Subjects: Administrative delays NHS Recruitment Vetting Criminal Records Bureau
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk