1 The programme to establish the Criminal Records Bureau (the Bureau) was initiated in 1999 and live services began in March 2002. The objective of the Bureau is to widen access to criminal records so that employers can make better informed recruitment decisions. Its main aim is to strengthen safeguards for the protection of children and vulnerable adults. A disclosure of a past criminal record is compulsory for some professions including child minders and care home workers. Employers and voluntary bodies seek checks on potential employees and volunteers through the Bureau as part of their overall recruitment process. The potential employee has to request the disclosure, although these requests are mainly submitted to the Bureau by employers.
2 Prior to the setting up of the Bureau, employers' ability to check whether potential employees had a criminal record was limited and inconsistent. The disclosure service offered by the Bureau is more comprehensive and consistent than the predecessor service. Most voluntary sector organisations working with children or vulnerable adults for example, have formal access to criminal record information for the first time. Other customers, such as those in education, can obtain checks on groups such as parent helpers and administrative staff who were not covered by the previous system of police checks.
3 The Bureau is now delivering reliably over twice the number of checks undertaken by the police each week under the old arrangements. At July 2003, the Bureau had issued over two million Disclosures, and is now generally handling between 40,000 and 50,000 applications per week and achieving its service standards for turnaround time. Bureau commissioned research in 2003 has shown that two-thirds of Registered Bodies1 found the disclosure process useful in guiding their recruitment decisions, and 18 per cent decided not to employ a job applicant in the light of Disclosure information.
4 The Bureau was established as a Public Private Partnership between the Passport and Records Agency and Capita plc2. The Criminal Records Bureau is now a separate Agency. Capita operates the Bureau call-centre, inputs applications for checking, collects fees due, develops and maintains the Information Technology infrastructure, and prints and issues Disclosures. The Agency sets the overall strategy, manages the Capita contract, carries out checks on the Police National Computer (to which it has the relevant level of access) and manages relationships with local police, Registered Bodies and other Government Departments.
5 We reviewed the scope of the Bureau's service and its role in protecting the vulnerable; the Bureau's progress towards delivering its planned services; the problems encountered and why they arose; and the solutions now being considered and actioned. Our key findings are set out below.
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1 A Registered Body is an employer or voluntary organisation registered with the Bureau to verify that applications are genuine.
2 The Capita Group of companies provides professional support services such as call centres, fee collection, and accounts services among others, on long term contracts in both the public and private sector. It had a turnover of £898 million in 2002.