Back door CRB Checks Unfair

Employers in England and Wales are forcing job applicants to undergo criminal records checks in Scotland because equivalent powers are not yet in force in England and Wales despite having been on the statute book for over a decade. The number of people being checked has quadrupled in the last six years, according to research by the Liberal Democrats.

The figures, obtained through Freedom of Information requests show that :

1,298.946 people in England and Wales were subject to basic disclosure checks by Disclosure Scotland between 2003 and 2008. This is at a rate of 1,163 a week or 595 a day.

The number of checks has quadrupled in six years, from 77,504 in 2003 to 444,413 in 2008.

They increased by 38% last year, from 320,815 in 2007.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:

"It is simply not fair to use Scottish legislation to check up on English and Welsh people. If the Government intends to make basic criminal record checks available to companies in England and Wales, they should bring the law into force here and not do it through the back door."

Rosie Sharpley says:

"If the Criminal Records Bureau is not fit to carry out basic disclosure checks, then government ministers should be honest about it. Whilst understanding the need for it, the mere fact that checks have to be done causes great concern to many people. It is also a costly exercise and people who work or volunteer for different organisations have to go through the hoop more than once, whilst paying for the "privilege". These concerns are understandable especially when the Government rakes in the money and does not get it right."