All candidates joining the Armed Forces are subject to exactly the same vetting procedures applicable to their chosen branch or trade, irrespective of religion or ethnicity.

There is no requirement for personnel to declare their religion. However, the numbers of British personnel who joined the UK Regular Armed Forces and self-declared their religion as Muslim in the last four financial years is set out below. The Ministry of Defence is not aware of any British Muslim members of the UK Regular Armed Forces going Absent Without Official Leave to fight in Syria or North Africa in the last four years.

Intake to the UK Regular Forces of personnel with a British Nationality declaring a Muslim religion, by Financial Year

Note: figures show intake to UK Regular Forces, both trained and untrained, which comprises new entrants, re-entrants, direct trained entrants (including professionally qualified Officers), intake to the Army from the Gurkhas and intake from the reserves. They exclude all movements within the Regular Forces; including flows from untrained to trained strength, transfers between Services and flows from Ranks to Officer due to promotion. All numbers are rounded.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) measures its performance against a set of Published Service Standards (PSS). Performance data applying to certificates dispatched to people whose applications were made from a Dorset postcode between 1 December 2014 and 30 November 2015 are contained in the table below. Current performance levels reflect a number of challenges for Dorset Police, including delivering an upgraded IT system. The DBS has agreed a recovery plan with Dorset Police. This will mean additional staff are recruited to enable it to improve its disclosure turnaround times.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is undertaking a transformation programme to reform the way it delivers its services. Release 1 (R1) will improve efficiency with modernised IT solutions and business processes, making it more convenient and quicker for customers. This does not include using volunteers to operate the disclosure process, given the highly sensitive nature of the information involved.

For applications received from individuals with a Dorset postcode between December 2014 and November 2015, the average processing time was 23.4 days. It is not possible to calculate the average figure for those from East Dorset specifically as this information is not collected.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is undertaking a transformation programme to reform the way it delivers its services. Release 1 (R1) will improve efficiency with modernised IT solutions and business processes, making it more convenient and quicker for customers. This does not include using volunteers to operate the disclosure process, given the highly sensitive nature of the information involved.

For applications received from individuals with a Dorset postcode between December 2014 and November 2015, the average processing time was 23.4 days. It is not possible to calculate the average figure for those from East Dorset specifically as this information is not collected.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is undertaking a transformation programme to reform the way it delivers its services. Release 1 (R1) will improve efficiency with modernised IT solutions and business processes, making it more convenient and quicker for customers. This does not include using volunteers to operate the disclosure process, given the highly sensitive nature of the information involved.

For applications received from individuals with a Dorset postcode between December 2014 and November 2015, the average processing time was 23.4 days. It is not possible to calculate the average figure for those from East Dorset specifically as this information is not collected.

The following table shows, for each year from November 2010 to October 2015, both the average end-to-end turnaround time for Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificates and the average time to complete the Police National Computer (PNC) stage.

The PNC stage has been defined as the time spent in DBS between receipt of an application and – in the case of Enhanced Disclosures – its despatch to local police forces; or – in the case of Standard Disclosures – its assembly for return to the applicant. During this period, DBS conducts a search of the Police National Computer, followed by internal checks to ensure both the accuracy and quality of certificates.

Between 1 November 2014 and 30 October 2015, the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) issued over 4.19 million certificates. Of these, 6 per cent of enhanced and 0.1 per cent of standard certificates were issued after eight weeks.

The number of applications that the Disclosure and Barring Service sent to the Metropolitan Police in each of the last five years is set out in the follwoing table, together with the Metropolitan Police’s average processing time for each of those years.

The average time taken to process a standard disclosure and barring service check over the last 12 months for which figures are available (November 2014 - October 2015) is 5.97 calendar days.

The average time taken to process an enhanced disclosure and barring service check over the last 12 months for which figures are available (November 2014 - October 2015) is 14.92 calendar days.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is funded through fees charged for disclosure certificates and from subscriptions to the DBS disclosure update service. DBS operates on a full cost recovery basis. There has not been a fee increase in four years and volunteers receive free checks.

The table below sets out the average time taken to process all three types of checks.

The fluctuations in processing times over the years relate to a number of factors, including changes in demand and demand forecasting, changes to IT systems and the performance of police forces for enhanced disclosures.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is funded through fees charged for disclosure certificates and from subscriptions to the DBS disclosure update service. DBS operates on a full cost recovery basis. There has not been a fee increase in four years and volunteers receive free checks.

The table below sets out the average time taken to process all three types of checks.

The fluctuations in processing times over the years relate to a number of factors, including changes in demand and demand forecasting, changes to IT systems and the performance of police forces for enhanced disclosures.

Providers of regulated health and social care services must be registered with the Care Quality Commission and comply with certain fundamental standards, including those relating to the employment of fit and proper persons.

In the National Health Service, employing organisations have the overarching responsibility for auditing and monitoring compliance of third party suppliers of temporary workers (including locum doctors) to ensure that they operate to the same level of standards in relation to undertaking pre-appointment checks as outlined by the NHS Employment Check Standards. Under the framework agreements, all external staffing providers (including contractors and agencies) are required to provide assurances that they have robust recruitment processes in place in line with the NHS Employment Check Standards.

Care workers also routinely use agencies to secure employment or apply to care homes and care providers directly. Employers in the care sector have a duty of care to patients and their families to take all appropriate action to ensure employees have the appropriate credentials to enable them to work in the sector. In cases of direct payment, where the council pays the care-recipient directly to employ a carer, this responsibility falls to the care recipient.

Providers of regulated health and social care services must be registered with the Care Quality Commission and comply with certain fundamental standards, including those relating to the employment of fit and proper persons.

In the National Health Service, employing organisations have the overarching responsibility for auditing and monitoring compliance of third party suppliers of temporary workers (including locum doctors) to ensure that they operate to the same level of standards in relation to undertaking pre-appointment checks as outlined by the NHS Employment Check Standards. Under the framework agreements, all external staffing providers (including contractors and agencies) are required to provide assurances that they have robust recruitment processes in place in line with the NHS Employment Check Standards.

Care workers also routinely use agencies to secure employment or apply to care homes and care providers directly. Employers in the care sector have a duty of care to patients and their families to take all appropriate action to ensure employees have the appropriate credentials to enable them to work in the sector. In cases of direct payment, where the council pays the care-recipient directly to employ a carer, this responsibility falls to the care recipient.

It is the responsibility of any school or parent to assure themselves that they are entirely satisfied as to the suitability of any freelance tutor they might choose to employ before they engage them. Private tutors have several options open to them to enable them to obtain appropriate checks in order to provide employers with the assurances they might need. For example, employment agencies are required to process DBS checks for all tutors working with children.

It is of course a serious criminal offence to seek to work with children in regulated activity after having been barred from doing so.

It is the responsibility of a parent to assure themselves that they are entirely satisfied as to the suitability of any freelance coach they might choose to employ before they engage them. Private tutors and coaches have several options open to them to enable them to obtain appropriate checks in order to provide employers with the assurances they might need. For example, employment agencies are required to process DBS checks for all tutors working with children

It is of course a serious criminal offence to seek to work with children in regulated activity after having been barred from doing so.

The DBS is reliant on the police completing their checks in a timely manner. To support this, service level agreements are in place between the DBS and each police force. These include a requirement for forces to complete 100% of local checks within 60 days.

There are a small number of forces, including the Metropolitan Police Service, experiencing difficulties in dealing with the volume of applications that have been referred to them. If police force performance falls below the standard agreed with the DBS, the DBS will work with the force concerned including, where appropriate, implementing a recovery plan.

The DBS is working closely with the MPS to address its performance issues. An MPS Gold Group is overseeing the recovery plan and exploring all opportunities to process cases quickly. Measures include increasing recruitment, introducing an evening team to improve resilience, and prioritising and escalating cases where possible. All police disclosure units, including that of the MPS, are funded by the DBS which agrees a budget for each police force annually based on the expected numbers of local checks.