§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what procedures are in place for carrying out Criminal Records Bureau checks on(a) overseas teachers and (b) other overseas workers coming to work in schools in the UK; and if he will make a statement. [153725]
§ Margaret Hodge[holding answer 9 February 2004]: My Department's guidance to employers in the education service about pre-appointment checks on teachers and other workers in schools advises that, if a person who they intend to appoint to work in a school has never lived in the UK, no purpose will be served by asking them to apply for a disclosure when they come to this country.
The Criminal Records Bureau is not able to obtain details of a person's criminal record from overseas. A limited number of overseas convictions are recorded on the Police national computer, but the data is not comprehensive.
The Bureaus Overseas Information Service provides advice to employers on the availability of criminal record information from overseas The service currently covers 17 countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Irish Republic, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Poland, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa. Malaysia, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Italy (excluding Vatican City) and Finland). The CRB is in discussions with the 10 accession countries to the European Union and aims to provide information through the Overseas Information Service about the criminal record information available from these countries within the next few months.
Where criminal record information is not available, we recommend that employers take extra care in taking up references and carrying out other checks on a persons background.