APPENDIX 16
Letter to the Chairman of the Committee
from Mr Charles Clarke MP, Minister of State, Home Office
CRIMINAL RECORDS BUREAU
I am writing to express my regret to you and
all your colleagues on the Committee for the fact that we failed
to notify you as quickly as we should about the announcement that
we made yesterday on waiving fees for volunteers. Please accept
my assurance that no slight was intended.
The issue of fees has been under close consideration
for a while. Matters moved rapidly yesterday, once we found that
the way was clear to make an announcement in relation to volunteers.
Given the obvious interest in this, we were sure that it was right
to let people know the situation as quickly as possible.
Officials genuinely did not know that an announcement
was in prospect yesterday when they came to attend the Committee's
hearing.
You will appreciate that our foremost concern
was to let Parliament know, which we achieved through the written
answer. We should have thought as the next step to contact you
or your officials on the Committee, and I apologise for the fact
that we did not. My officials realised the oversight and planned
to remedy it this morning, but found that your officials were
already aware of the announcement.
7 February 2001
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