Criminal checks to go online

Criminal records checks will be available online from next year and a web-based scheme to confirm job applicants’ suitability for work with vulnerable groups will be in place by 2008.

The plans are part of a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) five-year strategy, published last week.

The agency also aims to link to more public sector data sources and incorporate the government’s planned biometric ID card scheme in authentication and application processes.

‘The five years covered by this strategy will be a period of major change,’ says the report.

The CRB is working with the Department for Education and Skills to develop the vetting and barring scheme recommended by the Bichard Inquiry into police handling of information following the Soham murders.

The aim is to maintain a continually updated list that prospective employers can use to check if someone is cleared or barred from working with children or vulnerable adults. Ultimately the service will be available online.

‘The CRB disclosure service [will] trigger entry to the scheme with subsequent continuous update and reporting of any changes in the criminal records of an individual belonging to the scheme,’ says the strategy.

The Bichard report will have a significant effect on the agency’s work. The CRB is already using the interim I-PLX police force data sharing system. The full system, called Impact, being developed by police in response to Bichard, is expected to be up and running by 2009.

Impact will cut the number of referrals to police and speed up the turnaround of CRB enquiries, says the report.

The agency is also working with the Association of Chief Police Officers to allow criminal information to be exchanged with European Union states and establish employment vetting and data exchange protocols.

The CRB currently checks against the Police National Computer, local force data and the sex offender register. If all goes according to plan, British Transport Police information will be added to the verification process by next year, with links to the Royal Military Police and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency to follow.

Since the CRB started work in March 2002 it has produced 8.2 million disclosures, of which about five per cent contained conviction or police intelligence information.

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