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Home Office

Answer

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Criminal Records Bureau standard application information includes details of bank account (a) sort code and (b) account number; and if he will make a statement. [190728] Ms Blears: Sections E and F of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) Disclosure application form contains a number of fields for completion by applicants, including bank account details, for the purposes of assisting in verifying the individual's identity. However, since December 2002 the CRB no longer requires applicants to provide such details. The Bureau communicated this change to Registered Bodies in January 2003 and the Guidance Notes state that this section is no longer to be completed. The section was formally revoked by the Police Act (Criminal Records) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2003 with effect from February 2003. In response to concerns from Registered Bodies, employers, voluntary organisations and customers about the need to provide the personal information asked for in Sections E and F of the application form, the CRB carried out a review of its authentication rules and processes. This review concluded that: the removal of Section E from the process of identity validation and verification would not compromise the overall authentication of an applicant's identity and; there had been no instances to date, where the CRB had used information from Section F as part of the authentication rules. The requirement to provide this information could therefore be removed without compromising the overall authentication of an applicant's identity.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

426 c610-1W;426 c610W; 190728

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Criminal records Applications Bank services Information Forms Vetting Criminal Records Bureau

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk