For the financial year 2013-14 the average turnaround times were as follows:

All enhanced disclosures: 11.9 days (3,715,222 disclosures)

All standard disclosures: 4.8 days (233,511 disclosures)

Enhanced disclosures are broken into:

Enhanced disclosures with list checks: 12 days (3,554,721 disclosures)

Enhanced disclosures with no list checks: 10.9 days (160,501 disclosures).

The response to the ‘other' 14,730 queries for Employer Checking Service check requests during the period one April 2012 and 31 March 2013 would be a combination of the following:

‘Not Appropriate' — the request was 'not appropriate' for a number of reasons such as:

- The migrant already has documentation to prove their right to work, and there is no outstanding application or appeal with the Home Office; or

- The migrant has been employed by the employer prior to the introduction of the civil penalties legislation (February 2008), and therefore any positive response would not afford the employer with a statutory excuse against a civil penalty; or

- The employer has submitted a duplicate check.

This list is not exhaustive.

Rejected requests — these would consist of Employer Checking Service requests where some of the information required on the request form is not provided or incomplete.

The information requested is not available in the format required and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The information requested for the financial year 2012 -13 is not available in the format required and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Management information is only available for the number of dates Employer Checking Service (ECS) checks fell outside of service standards rather than the number of cases that fell outside service standards.

However, between one April and 31 October 2013, all ECS checks were completed within the five working day service standard. The average time to complete a check in this period is 3.66 days.

The total number of enquiries made to the Home Office employer checking service are:

All Employer Checking Service requests received a response. The figures provided are not national statistics but are based on provisional management information and may be subject to change.

The Home Office Employer Checking Service answers enquiries either confirming an individual's right to work or advising that it is unable to give such a confirmation. For the period 1 April 2012 to the 31 March 2013 the service provided 26,998 responses confirming an individual's right to work based on an outstanding application with the Home Office or a positive validation of a certificate of application or Application Registration

Card . A further 15,451 responses advised that the Home Office was unable to confirm an individual's right to work.

The figures quoted are not national statistics but are based on local management information and may be subject to change.

There were 62,300 Employer Checking Service check requests undertaken between 1st April 2012 and 31st March 2013. The figures quoted are not National Statistics but are based on local management information.

Between 1st April 2012 and 31st March 2013 the employer checking service received one time complaint.

The figures provided are not national statistics but are based on provisional management information and may be subject to change.

It is estimated the total staff cost involved in the Employer Checking Service (ECS) was £357,000 in 2012-13.

ECS however does not have staff dedicated solely to the service. Staff working on ECS multi-task and perform other duties in the Contact Centre network alongside this function. We are therefore unable to provide a cost specifically for the ECS service in isolation.

The table provides information on how many checks have been carried out each month by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and its successor, the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), since changes to the system were introduced by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.

The forecast that the volume of checks will fall in the future is based on the impact of the update service which will eliminate the need for unnecessary repeat checks. The update service was launched on 17 June.

The Protection of Freedoms Act (2012) provided for a number of changes to disclosure and barring, including a reduction in the scope of regulated activities that require barred list checks. While the total number of applications for enhanced criminal record certificates received by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) between 10 September 2012 and 29 February 2013 has remained broadly similar to the comparative period in the previous year, there has been a reduction in applications that required barred list checks. The relevant figures are set out in the attached table.

The implementation of the update service will allow employers and voluntary organisations to make a simple online check that will confirm whether a certificate is up to date. This will remove the need for unnecessary repeat applications.

Since 1 December 2012, the functions previously undertaken by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) have been carried out by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

A criminal records certificate can sometimes be used for different roles, but many employers choose to request an up-to-date certificate.

In order to make the system more efficient, DBS will introduce an online update service in spring next year. The update service allows an applicant to permit

employers and other recruiters who have the legal ability to check certificate information to make a simple online check which will confirm whether or not the certificate presented is up-to-date. The update service will remove the need for unnecessary repeat applications for a new certificate.