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Written question asked by Rosie Cooper (Labour) on Thursday, 21 July 2016, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 5 September 2016 (named day). It was answered by Sarah Newton (Conservative) on Monday, 5 September 2016 on behalf of the Home Office.

Vetting

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recourse there is for individuals who have been prevented from earning a wage due to the time taken for the processing of Disclosure and Barring Service certificate applications.

Answer

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) has a target to issue 95% of certificates within 8 weeks, which it is close to achieving. The DBS is reliant on police forces completing their checks in a timely manner.

DBS will liaise with the police on behalf of a customer who is experiencing delays when their enhanced level DBS application is with the police to undertake statutory checks. In these cases DBS will aim to resolve the customer’s issues as quickly as possible, and keep the customer informed until resolution. However, the DBS cannot provide financial remedy for any complaint about police actions including the timescales taken by the police to complete a check. It would be up to individual police forces to comment on any local redress policies.

If the delay is due to maladministration on behalf of DBS, the DBS redress policy is designed to ensure that the person who is the subject of that maladministration is not disadvantaged. Further information can be found on the DBS website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/disclosure-and-barring-service/about/complaints-procedure

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
43831
Session
2016-17
Subjects
Administrative delays Vetting
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk