Disclosure News February 2009
The newsletter for all new developments in the Disclosure
service.
Issue 71 February 2009
This month:
Editorial
Welcome to the February edition of Disclosure News.
In this edition, we introduce two new members of our team. Steve
Long returns to the CRB as interim Chief Executive
and Sue Quigley joins us as Commercial Director. We also have
details of the Ipsos MORI Customer satisfaction survey and the Fair
Play for Children Annual Report.
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Three Clicks and You’re
There
The CRB is
constantly reviewing its processes and services to make them more
user-friendly and our website has not escaped scrutiny.
Following feedback from customers and our regular monitoring of
site activity, http://www.crb.gov.uk/ is being
overhauled to make it more customer focused and user-friendly.
The new design has already been constructed and is currently
going through system tests before it goes live at the start of the
summer. The new-look website will contain much of the existing
guidance and information about our services but held in a more
accessible format. Neil Evans, CRB’s website manager, says:
“Our website carries a lot of information, which needs to be
accessed easily and swiftly. Whether you’re an applicant, customer
or just after general information, the aim is to get every visitor
to where they want to be in three clicks of the mouse.”
Every aspect of the website has been investigated for ways to
make life easier for the visitor. For example, while the current
website has three different feedback forms, depending on whether
the visitor is making an enquiry, complaint or needs support; the
new website will have just one form, which will be directed
straight into the Customer Services team here at the CRB. Neil
says:
“This is all part of the CRB’s ethos to move towards making
all our services more accessible electronically and forms part of
our Five-Year Strategy to continue to improve our
service.”
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A Familiar
Face Takes the Reins
With inside knowledge and experience of our service, Steve Long
is the perfect candidate to keep the CRB on course to face the
changes and challenges ahead.
Steve has been appointed interim Chief Executive and some of you
might well recognise him from his days serving the CRB as Director
of Service Delivery between 2004 and 2007.
His past role and experience is a real coup for the CRB because
Steve worked closely with managers, staff and customers across the
whole organisation, which has allowed him to quickly gain an
understanding of our future plans and aspirations for our
service.
Steve, from Liverpool, says:
“When the opportunity to support the CRB as interim Chief
Executive was offered to me I was excited at the prospect. I’ve
always been an advocate for the work of the CRB from several
perspectives; as a customer in the voluntary sector, as part of the
CRB Management team and as a senior civil servant in the wider Home
Office. I wholeheartedly believe in the CRB’s purpose of protecting
children and vulnerable adults and I’m pleased to be involved once
more.
“Working together both inside and outside the CRB is crucial
to developing the service. It’s important we recognise that the
Disclosure service is built on partnership, not only with the
Police and Registered Bodies but across our own teams. One of our
priorities will be to make sure that our relationship with the new
Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) is carefully
planned, delivered efficiently and addresses the needs of our
customers and stakeholders.
“Another priority will focus on our relationship with the
Police who are vital to our success. I want us to work closely with
them to enhance their day-to-day performance and also think
creatively together about longer-term solutions for improving the
capacity of Forces to deal with future work. On our part, we need
to ensure that our demand forecasting for the amount of work sent
to the Police is as accurate as it can be.
“We all have a collective responsibility with every
Disclosure and share the same goal to protect children and
vulnerable adults. By working closely together within the CRB and
with our partners, I hope we can build on the effective service we
provide and explore the possibility of expanding our range of
services further with stakeholders.”
Steve, aged 42, started his career within the voluntary sector
with Liverpool Council for Social Services. He then moved to a
consultancy firm specialising in developing fundraising strategies
before joining the Merseyside Youth Association in 1995.
He went on to become Chief Executive of the Youth Association
before joining the CRB in 2004 as Director of Service Delivery. In
this role, Steve led on all aspects of the CRB’s operations and
production, customer service, senior stakeholder management,
quality assurance and performance briefings to ministers and senior
officials. He also worked closely with policy teams to enhance
legislation and improve CRB capability.
In 2007, Steve departed to become Deputy Director for Home
Office Human Resources but we are delighted to be welcoming his
experience and expertise back at such an important time in CRB’s
development.
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Survey Says the CRB is Making a Difference
A public survey proves the work the CRB does to protect children
and vulnerable adults is valued, appreciated and necessary.
The research, carried out by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the CRB,
says that nearly three in four people think the CRB is making a
difference to the protection of children and vulnerable adults.
What is more, the survey’s findings are independently supported
by the Fair Play for Children Annual Report 2007-08.
Jan Cosgrove, National Secretary for the children’s charity Fair
Play for Children, said:
"Our report says the CRB checks are used by many of our
members in the voluntary sector and continue to provide a service
which members state they quite clearly want".
Elements of the media have attacked CRB checks as an example of
Government red tape but the general public survey - carried out to
gauge awareness of the CRB and the impact of its work on crime, the
fear of crime and job applicants - discredits this assertion
entirely.
Other findings from the research show:
- More than 90% surveyed agree that those who do paid or
voluntary work with children or vulnerable adults should be CRB
checked and would also be willing to be checked themselves, whether
in paid or voluntary work.
- Three in four say CRB checks are likely to act as a deterrent
to unsuitable people applying to work or prevent unsuitable people
from working with children or vulnerable adults. For those who have
first-hand knowledge of the CRB, this rises to eight in ten
people.
- Three in four people are more likely to use an organisation if
their staff have been CRB checked.
Commenting on the survey, Home Office Minister Meg Hillier
said:
“This research clearly destroys the myth that people are put
off volunteering by CRB checks. Most people are only too willing to
be checked and understand it protects children and vulnerable
adults.
“I am pleased that the public believes the CRB is playing a
valuable role protecting these vulnerable groups.”
The CRB understands the vital role played by volunteers so the
checks are carried out free of charge and represent around 20 per
cent of the 3.6 million checks we process annually, which saves
voluntary organisations millions of pounds.
And CRB customers agree with the findings. Martin Narey,
Barnardo’s Chief Executive, says:
“Barnardos believes CRB checks do not encourage a culture of
fear and suspicion of all strangers, but instead bring peace of
mind for parents and carers who place children in the care of
others.”
Matt Mills, Deputy County Commissioner for Essex Scouts, the
UK’s largest Scouting
county, says:
“These findings support what we have known for some time:
CRB checks are an accepted part of volunteering and do not restrict
recruitment. Volunteers just accept them as a part of the
volunteering process.
“We have over 90,000 volunteer appointments and a further
100,000 occasional helpers. The number of adults working in the
Movement is growing.”
Denise King, Chief Executive of Girlguiding UK, says:
“Parents trust our organisation because we have a sound
recruitment process which includes CRB checks. The checks are
completely necessary for the safety of our young members and
volunteers recognise this.
“CRB checks have had no discernible impact on volunteer
recruitment; we have around 100,000 adult volunteers and
supporters, and last year the number increased by over
1,000.”
The research and comments are a great endorsement of our service
and we are hoping for similarly positive feedback from our
satisfaction surveys with Registered Bodies and Applicants. This
research began in January and we are expecting a report in April,
which will be made available for everyone to view via the CRB
website.
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page
New Commercial Director
Sue Quigley has joined the CRB as the new Commercial
Director.
Sue told Disclosure News:
“As I’ve go to know more about the CRB, I like the fact that
it’s an executive agency of the Home Office. It has a very distinct
purpose in life and delivers an absolutely critical service. Plus,
it is still a relatively new entity. It’s very exciting to join a
young department and to strive to continuously improve the delivery
of the service.
“The CRB is going through very significant changes and I
know I’ll enjoy helping to deliver to customers a faster and even
more efficient service. I hope to play a major part in shaping and
defining the future service which will meet and exceed our
customers’ expectations.”
Sue started her career working for the Employment Service, based
in Liverpool and Birkenhead, and spent 10 years in the public
sector before joining a management development business.
Sue then joined the banking world as a HR adviser but after two
years stepped over to the commercial side and never looked back.
She went on to lead a number of business unit start-ups, including
wholesale cash sales and operations.
Sue has worked closely with the Bank of England and Royal Mint,
MasterCard and Switch/Maestro.
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Improving Accuracy
By the time you read this article, your Lead Countersignatory
should have received a letter from the CRB informing them about the
CRB’s new
Countersignatory compliance process, which will launch in the
coming months.
This new process will target those Countersignatories who have
more than 5% of the applications they submit rejected by the CRB
and returned for correction. The intention behind the new process
is to improve the overall accuracy of completed forms and improve
the overall speed and accuracy of our Disclosure process. It is
important to note that if a Countersignatory’s error rate does not
reduce this may lead to them losing their Countersignatory status
and, therefore, not being allowed to submit and countersign
forms.
We have also provided your Lead Countersignatory with a report
which lists the individual error rates for each of their
Countersignatories, based on the forms which they have submitted in
the past 12 months. The report also indicates the sections on the
form where the errors were made. This will help them and you
identify where there is a specific problem which you can discuss
with your Lead Countersignatory and agree an improvement plan.
The CRB will provide the necessary support, training and
guidance to assist you all to achieve these aims. To this end, the
CRB has devised a one-day training course which will be delivered
in Liverpool. This course is aimed at those Countersignatories
whose error rates are above 5%. If you would like further details
about this course please email CustomerServices@crb.gsi.gov.uk
marking your email ‘Signatory Standards’.
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Improving Demand Forecasting
Forecasting the demand for CRB checks is essential to the
Disclosure service. If we cannot predict accurately how many
applications we will receive each month, it may cause capacity and
resource difficulties for the CRB and the Police, which will affect
the Disclosure process.
To this end, we want to engage with more of our customers to get
a better picture of your future volumes and will soon be writing to
some of your Lead Countersignatories, asking for a breakdown of the
volumes which your organisation will be submitting over the coming
12 months.
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Contact
Address
PO Box 110
Liverpool L69 3EF
Information line 0870 90 90 811
Registration line 0870 90 90 822
Disputes line 0870 90 90 778
Welsh line
0870 90 90 223
Application line 0870 90 90 844
Minicom line 0870 90 90 344
Website: http://www.crb.gov.uk/
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