Disclosure News March 09
The newsletter for all new developments in the Disclosure
service.
Issue 72 March 2009
Welcome to March's edition of Disclosure News:
the newsletter for all new developments in the Disclosure
service.
View Disclosure News as
a PDF (new window).
This month:
Editorial
Welcome to the March edition of Disclosure News.
In this edition, we introduce the revised Code of Practice for
recipients of Disclosure information.
We have updates on the Countersignatory Compliance process,
managing Disclosure information and the final preparations for the
launch of our new electronic application channel.
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Working in Partnership to
Improve the Service
The CRB
continuously looks at ways to improve our service and the time it
takes to process applications. Due to unprecedented demand in
volumes and other mitigating factors, such as a large turnover of
staff, one of our partners, the Metropolitan Police, has been
experiencing difficulties in achieving its Disclosure targets which
has caused some delays to its part in the service.
The CRB is working closely with the Met to address these
problems. One approach involves funding the transition of a number
of temporary staff to permanent contracts. This should go a long
way to solving the problems with temporary staff, such as security
clearance and training, and also in the long run ensure that a
strong base of experienced caseworkers is preserved.
The CRB has also commissioned a significant resource, with
previous experience of working with police forces, to be deployed
to the Metropolitan police to assist with its workload. Together,
we will work to try to overcome the difficulties faced by the CRB’s
busiest Disclosure Unit . This is also an opportunity for staff
from the CRB to learn more about the local police forces’ part in
the Disclosure service.
Paul Lowton, Head of Relationship Management at the CRB,
said:
“By ensuring that we retain the most experienced caseworkers
and providing an additional dedicated resource, we hope to assist
the Disclosure Unit at the Metropolitan Police in achieving its
targets.”
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Police Volume Management Pays Dividends
Originally launched with West Midlands, the project extended to
include a further five forces, Avon & Somerset, Greater
Manchester, Devon & Cornwall, Thames Valley and West Yorkshire.
It has since assisted these six forces by providing a dedicated
workforce based at the CRB to conduct checks on their
behalf, freeing up more time for staff at the forces to deal with
the more complex cases.
Devon & Cornwall joined the PVM project in October 2007.
Julie Neville, Disclosure Unit Manager at Devon and Cornwall,
said:
“We are really pleased with the results that PVM has
brought; since joining the project, checks carried out by CRB staff
on our behalf have been very quick and accurate. This has benefited
both my team here, allowing them to concentrate on dealing with
more complex cases, and also customers who are able to take up
employment without any undue delay. We have developed a good
working relationship with the team in Liverpool and consider them a
vital part of our unit.”
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) was also one of the
first forces which benefited from the project. John Sargeson, Force
Delivery Manager at Greater Manchester said:
"We joined the project in October 2007. It was at a time
when GMP had a large backlog of applications to process. PVM has
played a large part in helping us to recover our performance. CRB
staff have conducted thousands of application checks on behalf of
GMP, allowing our staff to concentrate on more complex
applications.
“Additionally, the recent increase in demand for Disclosures
gave us an opportunity to work more collaboratively with the staff
at CRB and tackle the increased volumes together. This underlined
the strong relationship between us whilst reminding us how
effective the PVM project really is in helping forces to provide an
effective and efficient service to CRB customers."
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Improving Accuracy
The last issue of Disclosure News highlighted that we had
written to all Lead Countersignatories about the new
Countersignatory’s Compliance process. We also provided their
Countersignatories details, along with their individual return form
error rates for 2008, and indicated the sections on the form where
errors were being made.
We can report that the feedback has been very positive with Lead
Countersignatories eager to commence developing improvement plans
and deliver training to address specific problems and ensure
Countersignatories are meeting all their obligations.
For clarification, Countersignatories must comply with their
obligations in accordance with the conditions of registration and
the Code of Practice. In particular they must ensure:
- The applicant’s identity has been verified;
- The mandatory data fields on the application form are
completed;
- The check is only requested for an eligible position or purpose
prescribed in law;
- The data supplied is accurate;
- If the application is made by a volunteer, it meets the
definition of a volunteer as prescribed in the Police Act 1997
(Criminal Records) Regulations 2002.
John Quinn, from CRB Customer Services, says:
“Whilst the process can ultimately lead to sanctions
including cancellation of a Countersignatory’s registered status,
the main objective is to provide the necessary support, training
and guidance to assist all Countersignatories to be compliant and
improve the accuracy of completing forms.
“We had a really good response from the letter. Lead
Countersignatories demonstrated their commitment to improving
accuracy and made a number of good suggestions to enhance CRB
processes and assist them in making sure Countersignatories are
compliant. The feedback was very constructive and we are looking to
provide Lead Countersignatories with the necessary training tools
and also regular updates to detail current error rates.”
The compliance programme will be rolled out from April when we
will look to identify Countersignatories with the highest error
rates over the previous three months to consider issuing a Stage 1
warning letter. However, it is hoped that Lead Countersignatories
will engage with their Countersignatories to jointly agree
improvement plans before then and that will see error rates
fall.
If Lead Countersignatories feel that their Countersignatories
would benefit from an event to provide the necessary support,
training and guidance we have devised a one-day training course
which is delivered in Liverpool. This course is primarily aimed at
those Countersignatories whose error rates are above 5%. For
further details please email customerservices@crb.gsi.gov.uk
marking your email ‘Signatory Standards’.
Some Lead Countersignatories also took the opportunity to advise
us of individuals who have moved on or no longer act as
Countersignatories. For further information on how to report
changes to your Registration details please visit our website at
www.crb.gov.uk
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Code of Practice
The CRB will
launch its revised Code of Practice for recipients of Disclosure
information on Monday 6 April 2009.
The Code is intended to ensure that information released will be
used fairly and is handled and stored appropriately. All
organisations registered with the CRB are bound by the provisions
of the Code of Practice, which is issued under section 122 of Part
V of the Police Act 1997.
The current Code of Practice was produced at the inception of
the CRB and was first published in 2001. Since then there have been
a number of key legislative changes, such as the Police Act 1997
(Criminal Records) (Registration) Regulations 2006 which placed
mandatory conditions on Registered/Umbrella Bodies. These changes
have impacted upon the content and scope of the Code as the
conditions state what a Registered/Umbrella Body must do whilst the
Code explains how to.
We have, therefore, revised the Code to concisely reflect the
current statutory obligations following a full public consultation
with all Registered and Umbrella Bodies as well as major
stakeholders.
There are eight key obligations set out in the Code; each has a
key heading enhancing Registered Bodies’ understanding of their
duties. This also assists the CRB in assessing and reviewing
Registered Bodies’ performance.
There will also be Online Guidance which will be issued as a
website document and this will replace the existing Explanatory
Guide attached to the current Code of Practice.
The revised Code will, therefore, be supported by one
comprehensive document available online, which will be continually
updated to reflect changing business requirements.
The revised code can be downloaded from the website from Monday
6 April 2009 www.crb.gov.uk/code and should be
used by all Registered / Umbrella bodies from this date.
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Managing Disclosure
Information
An organisation can apply for a CRB check on a person if that
individual’s role is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act
1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 and they are doing so to assess the
individual’s suitability for the position. Under section 124 of the
Police Act 1997, recipients of Disclosure information must ensure
that it is not passed to any person not authorised to receive it.
Disclosures and the information they contain are available only to
those who need to have access in the course of their duties.
In a situation where an organisation contracts
out services or enters into an agreement with a third party, they
have a number of obligations to fulfil with regards to
recruitment/duty of care. An organisation entering into a contract
with an organisation may wish to stipulate, as a condition of the
contract, that any persons working within the organisation that
meet the criteria laid down in the Exceptions Order must be subject
to a Disclosure from the CRB.
Historically it has been the contractor who
has obtained the CRB check on the person(s) working within a
regulated position or with vulnerable adults and made the
suitability decision on that individual to undertake the role
within the contracting organisation. The contracting organisation
may have had a service level agreement with the contractor to
ensure robust recruitment procedures are adhered to, e.g.
ID /Ref checks/ risk
assessment, and for the contractor to provide confirmation that CRB
checks have been carried out by way of the date and reference
number of the CRB check.
However, a contracting organisation may decide
to carry out a CRB check themselves on the individuals being
provided by the contracting organisations – as long as the
individual’s role meets the Exceptions Order criteria - and assume
joint responsibility with the contractor for the suitability
decision and appointment of that person. In these circumstances, if
Disclosure information is passed, it must be treated in accordance
with the Code of Practice.
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ISA - Controlled Activity
Following articles in the August/October 2007 editions of
Disclosure News we have received a number of enquiries in relation
to the CRB
checks available for individuals who have access to sensitive or
personal information about children or vulnerable adults.
Currently, the only positions that are
entitled to a CRB check are those with access to a database under
section 12 of the Childrens Act 2004 (see August 07 DN for further
information). The Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) will expand entitlement
to a CRB check to:
- Ancillary support workers in NHS and FE
settings (e.g. cleaner, caretaker, catering staff,
receptionist) with frequent or intensive contact with children or
vulnerable adults.
- Those working in specified organisations (e.g. a Local
Authority) with frequent access to sensitive records about children
and vulnerable adults.
These positions are referred to as Controlled Activities.
Entitlement to register and check persons in Controlled Activity
will be introduced during the phased implementation of the VBS.
There will be five phases over a five-year period and Controlled
Activity will be introduced in the final stages of the phasing
strategy.
The phased introduction of VBS is essential to
ensure demand for the service can be adequately met, and initial
phasing will focus on those in Regulated Activity. More details on
ISA and VBS can be obtained by calling 0300 123
1111 or visiting the website at www.isa-gov.org.uk
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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
0870 90
90 344
Website: http://www.crb.gov.uk/
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