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19 Apr 2004 : Column 91W—continued
CPS
Mr. Grieve:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with
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the Attorney General about the renaming of the Crown Prosecution Service; and if he will make a statement. [159299]
Mr. Blunkett: The Home Secretary and the Attorney General have regular meetings to discuss joint policy matters.
The idea of renaming the Crown Prosecution Service was initially put forward by the Attorney General last year.
Criminal Record Checks
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for criminal records checks have been outstanding for more than three weeks, broken down by sector. [163336]
Ms Blears: As at 29 February 2004, there are 30,933 applications that are over three weeks old and are currently being processed by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB). This represents approximately four days' work for the Bureau. Approximately 60,000 other applications are over three weeks old and with the customer. This figure is not included in the total because the Bureau is unable to process these applications on the basis that it is awaiting further information from the applicant. In many cases, the Bureau will not receive information from the applicant and the application is suspended, pending withdrawal.
Information is not available to provide the breakdown by sector sought by the hon Member for Winchester. Disclosure applications are processed in the order in which they are received and no sector is given priority over any other. The CRB computer system was not designed to capture information in the format requested, because there was no anticipated need to do so. Although the business sector of the Registered Body that countersigns the application is recorded on receipt, this is to enable the Bureau to undertake trend analysis. Any conclusions based on this would not be expected to provide the hon. Member for Winchester with the information he seeks, because it would not evaluate the performance of one sector against another during processing.
Overall, the Criminal Records Bureau has been achieving and in some cases exceeding its public service standards since last June. The Agency is issuing 83.76 per cent. of allDisclosures within three weeks and 91–92 per cent. within public service standards.
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions applicant details supplied by the Criminal Records Bureau to the police have led to conviction details being matched mistakenly with an applicant. [163337]
Ms Blears:
The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) does not provide applicant details to the police during the matching process and the answer to the hon. Member for Winchester's question is none. The Bureau uses an extract of the Police National Computer (PNC) to compare the personal details that have been provided by the applicant against existing PNC records. From 1 January 2003 to 29 February 2004, the CRB has matched 193 Disclosure applicants to conviction information held on PNC, which have subsequently
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been found to be incorrect. The total number of applications processed by CRB during the same period is 2.66 million.
In some circumstances, applicants' details are similar and sometimes identical to people who have a criminal record. There are cases where an individual has given an applicant's personal details to police following criminal activity in an effort to avoid having a police record. The Disclosure itself informs applicants of a process whereby they can challenge or "dispute" the information presented on their Disclosure. The CRB will then liaise with the police to ensure the correct details are recorded. In some circumstances, where it is impossible to dissociate a person from a conviction record, the applicant is asked to undergo fingerprinting for elimination purposes.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many applications for (a) standard disclosures and (b) enhanced disclosures are currently unissued six weeks after the original application; and what the reasons are for delays; [163904]
(2) what the latest performance figures are for the Criminal Records Bureau with regard to applications for (a) standard disclosures and (b) enhanced disclosures. [163905]
Ms Blears: As at 20 March 2004, the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) has a total of 1,196 applications awaiting completion after six weeks. I am unable to provide a breakdown by Disclosure type as requested because the information is not available from the CRB systems.
The performance figures for February 2004 are as follows:
205,000 Disclosures have been issued during the month;
90 per cent. of Standard Disclosures were issued within two weeks;
90 per cent. of enhanced Disclosures were issued within four weeks;
Over 3.4 million Disclosures have now been issued since the start of the service.
Each application that is received by the CRB is progressed individually through the system and delays can occur at any point in the process. The CRB does not record centrally the reasons why individual applications have been delayed and to provide the hon. Member with the information as requested, would require a manual inspection of each of the 1,196 applications. However, the most common causes for an application being delayed are:
Applications delayed due to a high volume of cases awaiting checks at Local Police Forces.
Applications involving complex casework and checks from numerous Police Forces;
Application forms being submitted to the CRB containing incomplete or inconsistent information;
Applications stalling within the CRB automated systems due to technical errors.
Deed Poll Name Changes
Mr. Beggs:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what procedures are in place to ensure that,
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when an individual changes his or her name by deed poll, the individual's original name is retained in criminal records data; and if he will make a statement. [146231]
Ms Blears: Details of convictions for recordable offences are recorded on the Police National Computer (PNC).
Criminal records on PNC are retained under the name by which they were first entered on the system, together with information about other names which the subject of a record is known to use or to have used.
Drug Testing
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his statement of 14 January 2004, Official Report, column 277WH, on drug testing, what plans he has to market the national workplace initiative; and what budget has been set aside for the campaign. [161180]
Caroline Flint: Marketing the National Workplace Initiative has been a priority for the last six months within phase 2 (September 2003 to March 2004) of the workplace initiative. Phase 2 has focused on providing key business tools to help employers develop robust drug and alcohol workplace policies based on best practice, and to raise awareness on substance misuse. The key tools have been employer guidelines, employee leaflets and providing marketing and substance misuse training to DAT nominated business trainers to enhance the way they engage with businesses. Other marketing tools include rolling out the West Sussex DAT 'E-online training tool' as a National Initiative and creating a business focused website at www.businessengagement.com. Overall these marketing initiatives will lead to greater awareness of the National Workplace Initiative and will encourage more employers to write a workplace policy. The budget set aside for marketing was £100,000 and this has covered all the printing and production costs of 15,000 employer guidelines, plus the costs of building a website and rolling out the West Sussex DAT training tool.
Electoral Fraud
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there were for electoral fraud in each year since 1994. [165100]
Paul Goggins: The information collected centrally by the Home Office is limited to various fraud-related offences under the Representation of the People Act 1983 and is shown in the table. Similar offences, under other fraud and forgery provisions, cannot be separately identified.
(56) These data are on the principal offence basis.
(57) Excluding any cases in Staffordshire.
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Statistics for 2003 will be published in the autumn.
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