CRB checks look set to hit target

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:45:44 +0000

Police car on the Humber Bridge

Graham Stuart MP today said he was pleased to hear Humberside Police force had seen a dramatic improvement in the speed employee vetting checks were taking to complete.

He said: “Last year the situation got very bad and at one point the backlog of Criminal Record Bureau checks topped 15,000.

“Now, thanks in part to a new computer system offiers are turning those CRB checks around a lot quicker and the backlog has been greatly reduced.”

Graham will meet with Humberside Police Chief Constable, Tim Hollis, early in the New Year to discuss the CRB performance improvements.

Graham Stuart ‘disgusted’ with CRB checking performance by police

admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:43:06 +0000

Graham Stuart, MP for Beverley and Holderness, today said he was disgusted with the failure of Humberside Police to carry out criminal record bureau checks within a reasonable time.

The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) was introduced in 2002 and annually processes more than three million applications. It tasks all police forces with making detailed checks on the background records of people working with children, patients and the vulnerable.

Graham said: “This is simply not good enough. CRB checks are a vital part of the protection process for children and vulnerable adults.

“The delay in processing them stops people taking up work and has a crippling impact on voluntary groups who have to get their volunteers approved. The Humberside police are seriously lagging behind virtually every other constabulary in the country and local people are being let down.”

And he added: “I am disappointed the force has been unable to drag itself from the bottom of the national table when it comes to carrying out this vital work. Every delay by police means another teacher, care worker or nurse who cannot take up their role.

“This situation has gone on long enough and should not be tolerated. I met with the Chief Constable Tim Hollis after last year’s dreadful figures were revealed, met with front line staff and was promised the situation would be rectified. Clearly, however, it has not been.”

“I have written today to the Chief Constable asking for an urgent explanation of what has gone wrong, why he hasn’t been able to tackle problems that were all too evident a year ago and what exactly he intends to do now to take the local service up to levels taken for granted nearly everywhere else.”

A spokesman for the CRB said: “Failure to achieve this target may affect the CRB’s ability to meet its public service standards for Enhanced CRB checks.”

The CRB carries out basic checks itself, but where additional information may be required from the Police National Computer for Enhanced CRB checks, then these are the responsibility of the police force area where the application is made.

The full table of police force CRB performance figures can be seen at: www.crb.gov.uk/Default.aspx?page=3790

grahamstuart » Crime

CRB checks look set to hit target

Graham Stuart ‘disgusted’ with CRB checking performance by police