§ Mr. BaileyTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the financial impact of recent Criminal Records Bureau fee increases on education and social care budgets in local government. [131818]
§ Mr. RaynsfordResponsibility 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. A Regulatory Impact Assessment, which assesses the impact of the fee increase across all sectors, is available in the Library of the House.
It has always been the intention that the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) should be self-financed by means of the charges that it makes of those using the service, and that the cost of the service should not be a drain on the Exchequer. That remains the objective.
178WHowever, 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 (HO), the Department of Health (DH) and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). In 2003–04 the HO will contribute £4 million and DH and DfES a further £7.4 million each.