§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will investigate administrative arrangements put into place by the Criminal Records Bureau in respect of its pilot schemes affecting Stoke on Trent, including variations on date of commencement; what guidance was issued; and what compensation is available to those whose business is affected by delays in processing. [53331]
§ Mr. Keith Bradley[holding answer 2 May 2002]: Organisations which took part in the Criminal Record Bureau's (CRB) pilot phase did so on a voluntary basis. These included Stoke city council which along with others received written briefing and an informal presentation at CRB headquarters in Liverpool.
The organisations taking part in the pilot phase were supplied with application forms to be completed whenever a police check under the (then) current arrangements was required. Police forces agreed to use these to undertake checks and then to pass them to CRB. The forms were produced especially for the pilot phase and it was made clear in all briefing that they could not be used after commencement of the live Disclosure Service.
84WThe pilot phase continued until the commencement of the Disclosure Service on 11 March 2002. This was an extension to the original timescale of 1 March 2002. Any person who agreed to take part in the pilot by completing a Disclosure application form supplied for that purpose would not have been able to submit it after the pilot phase had ended, but were able to continue to submit them to be received by 10 March 2002.
CRB will consider any claims for compensation for loss of earnings caused by any delays as a result of proven errors by the CRB.