§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list those offences which people are not required to declare under rehabilitation of offenders legislation; [31605]
(2) what plans he has to review the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. [31604]
§ Mr. MacleanThe Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 provides that convictions are deemed to be "spent" after varying periods of time. Spent convictions do not have to be declared other than in certain specified circumstances. The key determinant of when an offence becomes spent is the length of the sentence passed in each case, not the offence itself. Sentences of more than two and a half years imprisonment never become spent.
We have no plans to review the Act itself. However, we are reviewing the scope and scale of the exceptions to the Act as part of a wider review of employment vetting arrangements. A revised list will be published shortly as part of a White Paper setting out our proposals.