Criminal Records Bureau

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The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) is an executive agency of the Home Office in the United Kingdom, which conducts criminal record checks on potential employees on behalf of organizations and recruiters throughout England and Wales.

The CRB was established under the Police Act 1997 following public concern about the safety of children, young people and vulnerable adults. It was found that the British police forces did not have adequate capability or resources to routinely process and fulfill the large number of criminal record checks requested in a timely fashion, so a dedicated agency was set up to administer this function.

The CRB operates out of a central office on the Princes Dock, Liverpool.

1 Disclosure
2 Criticism
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Disclosure

The process by which the CRB provides criminal record data is called Disclosure. There are three levels of Disclosure: Basic, Standard and Enhanced.

An organisation which is entitled to ask exempted questions (under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974) must register with the CRB before they can request Standard or Enhanced Disclosure data from the individual applicant. The individual applies to the CRB, with the application countersigned by the organisation. The applicant's criminal record is then accessed from the Police National Computer (PNC), as well as checked against lists of people considered unsuitable to work with children maintained by the Department for Education and Skills (known as List 99) and the Department of Health, and copies are sent to the applicant and the organisation.

Standard Disclosure is primarily for positions involving regular contact with children or vulnerable adults, but can also be used for some other professions of responsibility (for example, accountancy).

Enhanced Disclosure is for positions involving greater contact with children or vulnerable adults (for example, doctors or social workers) and for certain additional professions (for example, judicial appointments). An additional level of checking is carried out with the individual's local police force.

Basic Disclosure data is not currently available, but is intended for individuals to obtain copies of their own criminal record. Members of the public can currently do this by requesting 'subject access' under the Data Protection Act from any British police force, regardless of where the subject lives.

[edit] Criticism

In Feb 2004, the National Audit Office criticised the CRB for huge delays.^[1] In May 2006, the Home Office revealed that about 2,700 people were mis-labelled as criminals during checks.^[2]