Increased Fees For The Criminal Records Bureau

EDM number 1362 in 2002-03, proposed by Paul Burstow on 09/06/2003.

That this House is appalled by the decision of the Home Office to allow the Criminal Records Bureau to more than double its fees on 1st July for people who work with the vulnerable, hitting care homes, schools and charities hardest when they are already struggling with cash shortages and causing a surge in demand, causing a further backlog for those needing quick checks to be undertaken; is deeply concerned by the bail out of the CRB by the Home Office, Department of Health and DfES using at least ú18.8 million of taxpayers money so far for an ailing PFI project; notes the failure of Capita and the CRB to achieve seven out of their eight key performance targets, leaving volunteers and professionals who want to work with the vulnerable unable to do so; also notes the publication of the CRB Corporate Business Plan which passes the responsibility for identification checks to umbrella bodies without additional training or recompense for their additional costs and without their consultation; and calls upon the Government urgently to introduce the Protection of Vulnerable Adults list, to publish a full disclosure of all of the costs incurred arising from negotiating and renegotiating the Capita contract, for Ministers to report every six months to Parliament the state of the Criminal Records Bureau to increase transparency and increase trust in the system, and for officials who were in charge of the initial planning stages of the CRB to resign.

This motion has been signed by a total of 53 MPs.