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Criminal Records

My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities and Criminal Information (Lynne Featherstone) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement. I have today placed in the Library of the House the report by Mrs Sunita Mason, the Independent Advisor for Criminality Information Management, of phase 2 of her review of the criminal records regime, as well as the Government’s formal response to both phases of that review. I published Mrs Mason’s phase 1 report on 11 February, alongside the Protection of Freedoms Bill. The Bill includes a number of proposals which reflect recommendations from that first report and which will improve the proportionality and efficiency of the employment vetting systems centring on the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB). I am pleased to publish today Mrs Mason’s phase 2 report, which addresses wider criminal records issues such as definition, management and international exchange. I am grateful to Mrs Mason for her contribution to this important agenda, which encompasses two central objectives for the Government—rebalancing civil liberties where necessary and maintaining effective, efficient and affordable public protection arrangements. The Government accept the large majority of Mrs Mason’s recommendations, either unconditionally or in principle. Full details are in the response document. The significant improvements to the Criminal Record Bureau’s processes which the Government have brought forward in the Protection of Freedoms Bill will, I believe, substantially reduce the cost and administrative burdens involved in pursuing necessary employment checks. And as such, they are also supportive of other key Government priorities such as the growth agenda and the employment law review. They will also ensure greater protection of applicants’ rights as only relevant and accurate personal information will ever be disclosed by the police. For example, we are giving the applicant the opportunity under these revised CRB processes to review and, if appropriate, dispute any information held about them by the police prior to it being disclosed to an employer. We have also included a provision to make the CRB process less burdensome on all concerned by introducing a new, on-line status checking capability that will in effect mean individuals can re-use their certificates for different employers across the same workforce and so will no longer need to apply for a new certificate every time they want to take up a new role. This will have a positive impact on business, making it significantly easier for employers to take on staff in relevant sectors. We do not accept Mrs Mason’s recommendation to significantly scale back eligibility for criminal records checks. The Protection of Freedoms Bill is already being used to very substantially reduce the scope of regulated activity from which people can be barred. Against that background we think it is important to retain the capacity to apply for criminal records checks in relation to a broader set of sensitive roles.