1  The value of Disclosures is heavily dependent on the data on which they are based being up to date. The Home Office should work with Police Forces and the Department for Constitutional Affairs to identify options for achieving a significant reduction in the time taken to update the Police National Computer, including exploring further the suggestion that updating should be done at courts when trial outcomes are known. Currently only 38 per cent of court results are entered within the target of seven days.

2  The Partnership between the Bureau and Capita should be re-established more effectively in the light of contract renegotiation, by:

■  Reviewing the allocation of operational responsibility, accountability and risk between the Agency and Capita to put in place the most appropriate arrangements to maximise performance and accountability;

■  Reviewing partnership governance arrangements;

■  Enabling Capita to input more strongly into interdepartmental and customer stakeholder groups to ensure full awareness of the operational impact of decision making and to raise Capita's awareness of stakeholder concerns; and

■  Both parties providing the required skills and operating in a suitable framework to support a strategic partnership.

3  The Home Office should consider commissioning research to assess whether crimes against children and vulnerable adults in the workplace and other settings are declining, to provide an indicator of the Bureau's impact.

4  The Home Office has published the new Agency's Framework Document which sets out its strategic objectives within the context of the legislative framework and the requirement to be self financing by 2005/06. The Department should monitor that the Agency develops a clear business strategy as part of the corporate planning process.

5  In protecting children and the vulnerable, the risks of abuse occurring need to be balanced with the benefits and costs of Disclosures, so that the level of checking undertaken by the Bureau is focussed on potential employee or volunteer contact situations where the risk of abuse is greatest. The Home Office and the Bureau should, in consultation with stakeholders, consider establishing clear guidelines on Disclosure needs, drawing on the experience of all parties in the setting up of the Bureau's services.