HC Deb 18 July 2003 vol 409 cc960-3W
Kate Hoey

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact of the increase in cost of Criminal Record Bureau checks on small and medium-sized care homes. [124842]

Paul Goggins

Responsibility for paying the fee for a criminal record Disclosure rests with the individual applicant, although it is open to the employer to reimburse the cost. I have placed in the Library a Regulatory Impact Assessment which assesses the impact of the fee increase across all sectors.

Mr. Hawkins

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what consultation took place with the Criminal Records Bureau's customers about the increase in fees for obtaining disclosure certificates [122482]

(2) what assessment he has made of whether sufficient notice was given to registered bodies to assess the budgetary impact of the increase in fees for obtaining disclosure certificates from the Criminal Records Bureau; [122483]

(3) whether an impact assessment for registered bodies was carried out prior to the announcement of increased fee levels for obtaining disclosure certificates from the Criminal Records Bureau; and whether such an assessment will be carried out in future. [122484]

Paul Goggins

[holding answer 30 June 2003]: The Government made it clear when the original £12 fee was announced that it was our intention that the Criminal Records Bureau would be self-financing in the medium term. That remains our objective. However, in the short term, the costs of the CRB will continue to be met by a combination of fee receipts and contributions from the Home Office, the Department of Health and Department for Education and Skills. The CRB is expected to achieve full cost recovery from 2005–06.

In view of the need to maintain an even as possible demand for the Disclosure service it was not possible to consult on the fee increase in advance of the announcement on 5 June.

Responsibility for paying the fee rests primarily with the individual applicant, although it is open to the employer to reimburse the cost. Disclosures will continue to be issued to volunteers free of charge.

A Regulatory Impact Assessment which assesses the impact of the fee increase for the voluntary and business sectors has been placed in the Library. In line with normal practice, a further assessment would be undertaken to accompany any future increase in fees that was above inflation.

Mr. Burstow

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) paper based, (b) phone based and (c) e-based applications for (i) standard and (ii) enhanced Criminal Records Bureau checks were received in each month up until 1 July 2003. [123763]

Paul Goggins

The figures requested are summarised in the following table.

The gross applications refer to the number received by the CRB and the net receipts refer to the number that are being processed on the system. The difference between these figures is the number of applications returned to customers for amendment.

Month Phone based applications (Gross) Paper based applications (Gross) Total net applications received (Gross) Total net receipts
March 2002 1,384 1,381 2,765 2,306
April 2002 10,337 29,376 39,713 34,301
May 2002 17,505 70,360 87,865 82,821
June 2002 17,312 72,892 90,204 88,442
July 2002 39,600 119,793 159,393 134,206
August 2002 31,220 112,810 144,030 129,049
September 2002 37,729 167,139 204,868 185,153
October 2002 40,345 186,995 227,340 208,784
November 2002 36,795 150,668 187,463 171,893
December 2002 31,778 120,006 151,784 138,454
January 2003 32,372 128,496 160,868 144,538
February 2003 35,509 142,715 178,224 161,286
March 2003 39,064 156,435 195,499 174,832
April 2003 32,616 137,662 170,278 151,676
May 2003 34,353 146,565 180,918 162,208
June 2003 41,532 211,127 252,659 227,092
Total 479,451 1,954,420 2,433,871 2,197,041

At present the CRB has no e-based route for applications. Also, the CRB are unable to give a breakdown of Standard and Enhanced Disclosures for Telephone Disclosure Application Forms and Blank Disclosure Application Forms (paper based).

Mr. Hancock

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consultation was held with the voluntary sector in relation to the increase in fees for Criminal Records Bureau checks; what factors underlay the decision to make the increases; and if he will make a statement. [124790]

Paul Goggins

With regard to consultation with the voluntary sector I refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Hull, North (Mr. McNamara) on 8 July 2003,Official Report, column 721W. In respect of the factors underlying the fee increase, I refer the hon. Member to the written statement made by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary on 5 June 2003, Official Report, columns 27–29WS.

Mr. Denis Murphy

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many disclosure applications were dealt with by the Criminal Records Bureau in the last 12 months; and what the average time taken was to process, an application. [126723]

Paul Goggins

During the last 12 months the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) has issued a total of 1,946,465 Disclosures broken down as followsStandard Disclosures: 243,382 Enhanced Disclosures: 1,703,083

The average time taken to process a Disclosure during this period was between five and six weeks.

The CRB current targets, published in our Corporate and Business Plan 2003 are to process 90 per cent, of Standard Disclosures within two weeks and 90 per cent. Enhanced Disclosures within four weeks. The CRB has been consistently achieving these service standards in recent weeks.

Mr. Denis Murphy

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many representations he has received from individuals and organisations about fees charged by the Criminal Records Bureau. [126920]

Paul Goggins

Since announcing the increase in Disclosure application fees charged by the Criminal Records Bureau on 5 June, we have received approximately 350 written representations primarily concerning the scale of the increase and the lack of consultation prior to the introduction of the new fees. The majority of these representations have been from organisations.