20 September 2002
The team has given an interim report on the state of the CRB to David Blunkett.
Giving evidence to the home affairs select committee on September 18, Blunkett said the team would be looking at the culpability of both partners in the £400m public-private partnership.
A spokesman for the Home Office stressed that the team would not be conducting a witch-hunt. 'This isn't just Capita. This is a partnership,' he told Public Finance. 'Things have gone wrong and they want to know how and why and to look at specific areas and decide what remedial action to take.'
Blunkett told MPs that it was already 'particularly clear' that the inaccuracy of paper-based applications had been a huge problem. The CRB has claimed that up to 60% of paper-based applications for criminal checks were full of errors and had contributed significantly to the CRB backlogs, which stood at 198,000 two weeks ago.
The home secretary also took a sideswipe at Education Secretary Estelle Morris. He said the education checks under the old List 99 were on track to be completed by the start of the school term but were 'overturned' by Morris's initial insistence that all staff had to have full disclosures completed.
PFsep2002
