CRIMINAL RECORDS BUREAU CHECKS ON VOLUNTEERS

That this House recognises that the Government has a duty to protect vulnerable people and that Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks are an important part of this process; notes that the number of checks proposed annually by the CRB has risen from 1.5 million in 2002 to 2004 to almost three million over the past year; further notes with concern that in 2007 240,000 applications were wrongly confused by forms; further notes with concern that the current system is so inflexible that thousands of people are being forced to have multiple CRB checks for different jobs because the checks are not transferable from one to another; expresses concern that an inflexible approach to CRB checks has had a negative impact on the voluntary sector; and calls on the Government to provide greater monitoring of the frequency of such inappropriate checks.