§ Mr. LetwinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the mean delay for checks on volunteers was under the old system of police checks in the last 12 months of its operation; and what the mean delay for such checks has been in relation to volunteers under the new arrangements instituted by the Criminal Records Bureau in the last 12 months. [83900]
§ Hilary Benn[holding answer 28 November 2002]: Information is not available in the form requested. Under the previous arrangements some volunteers were subject to police checks via local authorities and other organisations but separate statistics were not collected. A number of voluntary organisations accessed police checks through a body called the Voluntary Organisations Consultancy Service (VOCS), covering both volunteers and paid employees. Their last annual report covering the financial year 2001–2002 showed that they processed 13,535 police checks for voluntary organisations of which 6,595 were for paid employees and 6,940 were for volunteers. The average time for responses from the police was 30 days. VOCS' own handling time was additional.
As to the current arrangements, no distinction is made in relation to the profession or status of an applicant. As a result, the IT system is not able at present to extract this data from the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) database (although it is expected to be able to do so in future when the system is updated). They are all subject to the same level of service. However, access to checks by the voluntary sector has been greatly increased with the advent of the CRB and many more volunteers are now subject to such checks.
The average turnaround time for processing applications remains at about six weeks.
This is measured from the point at which a correctly completed application form is received by the CRB, accompanied by all pertinent supporting details, to issuing a Disclosure.
§ Keith VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much compensation has been paid by Capita to the Government under the terms of the contract relating to the Criminal Records Bureaux. [86720]
841W
§ Hilary BennThere is provision under the terms of the contract between Capita and the Home Office for penalties for delay or poor performance. Capita has incurred liquidated damages for delay although the details remain commercial in confidence and cannot be divulged. The main priority is for the Criminal Records Bureau and Capita to collaborate in order to achieve further improvement in the quality of service.