HC Deb 28 November 1990 vol 181 cc419-20W
Mr. John Greenway

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will announce the terms of reference of the study into the national criminal records.

Mr. Waddington

I have decided that an efficiency scrutiny should be carried out with the following terms of reference:

Terms of Reference

  1. (i) To review the present arrangements at national and local level for the funding, maintenance and disclosure of the National Collection of Criminal Records, to determine whether they enable an efficient and effective service to be provided;
  2. (ii) to identify the present and potential scope of the national collection, and any implications for local force records of possible changes in the scope;
  3. (iii) to examine current practice in providing access to and disclosure from the collection, to make proposals for any changes in the principles governing access and disclosure and to specify their likely effects; and
  4. (iv) to make recommendations on the future management and resourcing of the national collection, including arrangements for the supply of information to the collection and the disclosure of information from it.

The scrutiny will begin in early December and I expect to receive the report next April.