Bureau orders investigation after criminal checks failure

The Criminal Records Bureau is to conduct an investigation into
a complaint by Barnardo’s that it cleared two potential
employees with criminal records, writes Anabel Unity
Sale.

A home office spokesperson said the CRB was taking
Barnardo’s grievance seriously after its checks failed to
reveal one person had a conviction for possessing cannabis and the
other had four convictions, including one for threatening
behaviour.

The spokesperson defended the CRB’s work, and said the
incident needed to be put into perspective. She said: “Out of
380,000 disclosures issued at the end of checks less than 0.01 per
cent have lead to information being queried by the individual or
the employer.”

Barnardos chief executive Roger Singleton said he wanted to find
out why the CRB did not uncover the convictions during eight weeks’
worth of checks. “If it is simply an administrative error then
while why we can rather self-righteously say it shouldn’t
have happened, we realise mistakes are made,” he said. “However, we
are concerned there is a fundamental loophole in the system.”