Michael Bichard’s recommendation for everyone working with children and vulnerable adults to require a Criminal Records Bureau enhanced disclosure will be met by next April, it said, writes Amy Taylor.

The commitment comes in the CRB’s annual report for 2004/05 which outlines the bureau’s plans to meet Bichard’s recommendations over the current financial year.

Bichard’s recommendations are contained in his inquiry report published in June 2004.

The report states that at present subject to the discretion of the headmaster a person can commence employment in a school prior to the completion of CRB checks as long as there has been a check of List 99 or an earlier check by the Teacher Training Institution. List 99 is a list of people who are considered unsuitable to work with children.

Bichard also recommended improvement to the checking of overseas applicants. The CRB commits itself to doing more work to achieve this and says that a clause has been inserted into the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 giving them powers to disclose information recorded overseas on an enhanced disclosure.

The Bichard inquiry was set up following the conviction of Ian Huntley for the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambridgeshire.

Criminal Records Bureau Annual Report and Accounts from: www.crb.gov.uk