ID cards to be used for criminal record checks

The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) has outlined initial plans for integrating ID cards into the criminal record vetting process as part of a "period of major change" in its new five-year business strategy.

The CRB's current disclosure service charges employers to vet the suitability of new staff who will be working with children and vulnerable adults, although it has been dogged by technical problems since its launch in 2002.

Just this week the Home Office admitted that 2,273 innocent people had wrongly been branded as paedophiles and violent robbers because their details were similar to people with criminal convictions.

From 2009 the CRB said it will begin the first phase of integrating the ID card in the authentication and application process for verifying the identity of those undergoing criminal record checks.

The Home Office claims the current four week disclosure process can potentially be reduced to less than one week with ID cards and that they will also ensure identity checks are more rigorous.

More immediate targets include a move to complete electronic services as part of the strategy to reduce the cost of processing CRB checks. The current service is based only on paper and phone applications but the CRB said it is aiming for full "e-service delivery" for single and bulk electronic applications by 2008.

The CRB business plan said: "Removing the paper form and moving rapidly to a position where electronic transactions are the most used application channel is an essential step in the drive to create a low-priced but high value disclosure service."

This will lead to the CRB operating on a self-funding basis for the first time since it was set up, with a surplus of £2.4m projected for this current financial year.

Another key change in the CRB will be the setting up of a new online register of vetted people - run by the Department for Education and Skills - for employers to check. Anyone who undergoes a criminal record check will be added to the register which will then be continuously updated.

Some of these developments will require changes to the CRB's £400m PFI contract with Capita, which runs until 2012.

The range of data sources the CRB can search is also to be extended from the Police National Computer and police intelligence sources to include the British Transport Police, Royal Military Police, the Serious and Organised Crime Agency and the police forces for Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.