07 March 2003
The government is to delegate responsibility for checking potential workers' identities to 'registered bodies' such as local authorities in an attempt to overhaul the beleaguered Criminal Records Bureau.
Patrick Carter, who headed a review into the CRB after its disastrous first few months led to a backlog in criminal checks, said registered bodies had to be made 'more responsible'.
The Home Office said it planned to legislate to force registered bodies to verify identities of workers such as teachers and social workers and would hold them responsible for the quality of application forms.
Mike Walker, assistant director of negotiations at the Employers' Organisation, said verifying identities was a 'task no one wants'. He said confidence in the CRB was still limited and backlogs remained huge. But he added that anything that would improve the process would be welcome.
The review team made ten recommendations, although its full report will not be made public due to 'commercial confidentiality'.
The Home Office confirmed that basic disclosures, the criminal checks that would have resulted in the CRB becoming self-funding, would be postponed indefinitely. Carter said the system was not robust enough and the CRB would still not be able to cope with any surges in demand. 'We want to get the main thrust of things right first,' he said.
The Home Office confirmed that it was accepting all the team's recommendations. It said it would be renegotiating with Capita, the private sector part of the public-private partnership that runs the CRB. Lord Falconer, the minister with responsibility for the CRB, confirmed that Capita had been fined 'liquidated damages' for its failure to meet performance targets.
The CRB will also move toward electronic applications only, and will become a stand-alone executive agency. Currently it shares chief executive Bernard Herdan with the Passport Agency. Falconer said Herdan will remain with the Passport Agency.
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