§ Mrs. ClwydTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list in respect of the list of suspected sex offenders held by the North Wales police authority(a) the number of names on the list currently 268W (b) those who have access to the list, (c) what the list is used for and (d) under what circumstances people are placed on the list; [36517]
(2) if he will list in respect of the list of convicted sex offenders held by the North Wales police authority the number of names on the list currently, those who have access to the list, what the list is used for, how long it takes on average to check a reference with the list and under what circumstances people are placed on the list. [36516]
§ Mr. MacleanThe North Wales police authority does not hold lists of convicted or suspected sex offenders. Like all police forces in England and Wales, North Wales police have access to the national collection of criminal records which holds information about every person convicted of a serious sexual offence, the paedophile index held by the National Criminal Intelligence Service and its own criminal intelligence information. Arrangements for supplying employers in the statutory sector and parts of the voluntary sector with information about those seeking to work with children on a regular, unsupervised basis are set out in Home Office circulars 47/93, 42/94 and 46/94. In the year to 31 March, criminal record checks by the North Wales police took between seven and 28 days depending on whether it was necessary for them to contact other police forces.