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Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (Disclosure and Barring Service Transfer of Functions) Order 2012

I do not attribute any base motive to the noble Baroness. However, it sets me on key, because these are legitimate questions, as she rightly points out, to which everyone has the right to know the answer. It has been helpful to be able to explain the main purpose of the transfer of functions order, to put it in the context of the change of management that will flow from it. As we are making a substantial change, in the sense that the two bodies are being merged into one, it is important that I have the opportunity to explain it to the Committee. We are trying to bring about reform. We have tried to avoid unnecessary bureaucracy to encourage volunteering and employers and other organisations rightly to share responsibility for the adequate safeguarding of children and other vulnerable groups.

We need to move away from a tick-box mentality. Employers think that a criminal records inquiry is all that they need to check on the desirability of employing someone. That leads in quite well to the comments made by my noble friend Lady Walmsley, who has been assiduous in dealing with these matters. I am pleased that she paid tribute to the engagement of my predecessor, the noble Lord, Lord Henley, in this issue. This change is not designed, of course, to weaken checks. The noble Baroness mentioned this in the context of various current investigations and, in truth, these matters should have been promptly reported to the police. She also mentioned the absence of criminal records of particular individuals. This shows that effective management and supervision of volunteers and professionals within the group is key: the checks go only so far. Effective management and supervision of all volunteers is one of the reasons why we can have an updating service and a capacity for people to volunteer more easily. However, the people who are responsible for managing volunteers have an enhanced responsibility to make sure that they perform their tasks in a proper way and do not exploit them for more sinister purposes.

The noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Basildon, asked about guidance. She made a little fun of the complexity of the order. It is complex—it is the kind of document that drives me mad—and, as I am a simple country chap, I find this stuff largely beyond me. However, the law needs to be regularised and this statutory instrument is there to regularise the legal framework. The key is how the public see these matters. They do not see them through a statutory instrument but through what we tell them about the service. Promoting the CRB update service will be important as a part of this.

We have highlighted these changes through road shows and both organisations have been communicating regularly with stakeholders about the changes. So people who regularly use the facilities have been kept in the picture. I have been impressed by the way in which both organisations see themselves as supporting the employers and managers of the people who are part of the information service they provide.

It is important to mention—I alluded to this earlier—the role of the Home Secretary in connection with a non-departmental government organisation. The Home Office will continue to answer questions about the new body and its accountability from Members of Parliament in another place and Members of this House. We will monitor the progress of this merger and I hope, in a year’s time or so when the system has settled down, we might be able to persuade the usual channels to hold a debate on how the service is functioning. I hope I have been able to reassure noble Lords on that.

As for staff moving from Liverpool and Darlington, obviously this would be a cause for concern but it is not part of the current plan. The chief executive-designate and the chair-designate have confirmed that they do not anticipate doing anything about changing the two site locations in the first two years. This position has been shared with staff and the TUC. They will continue to seek some flexibility from staff over travelling between the two work locations to attend meetings so that they can establish an effective organisation, but that is going on already and people have been working well together. I have gathered that there is a sense of ambition about the new service from both the CRB and the ISA.

Will there be efficiency savings? There will be some efficiency savings but, more to the point, it provides a single focus for a complementary service that will be found within the CRB and the ISA. We are not looking to make any particular changes to the structures other than those that have already been consulted on. As the noble Baroness would expect, TUPE provisions will apply in these circumstances but there are no redundancies, so it has been a matter just of consultation and having regular briefings on how the future organisation might work to provide an integrated service.

The noble Baroness asked about numbers and whether there had been an increase in referrals to the ISA. I was not aware of that. Although I was shown some figures, I did not bring them with me today. I know that there was a slight rise in CRB figures over the summer but it was a modest percentage, which may have been because of the increased activity around the

Olympics. I know we have figures from CRB up to September. If I may, I will write to the noble Baroness and give her the full set of figures on that.

Meanwhile, I hope noble Lords are content to commend the order to the House by approving this draft order.