Lord Vinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Vinson on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Henley on 21 March 2012 (HL Deb, cols 914–6), and in the light of the fact that the number of Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks in 2014–15 was the highest since 2010–11, what plans they have to reduce the number of DBS checks, and in particular to limit the DBS checking of groups such as parent volunteers.

Lord Bates

The Government has introduced an Update Service to enable existing criminal record certificates to be kept up to date whilst reducing the need for repeat checks with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The DBS is driving greater uptake of the Update Service which will continue to reduce the need for repeat checks.

The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 reduced the scope of “regulated activity” from which unsuitable people can be barred. It is for schools to decide whether or not to carry out disclosure checks on parent volunteers who work under supervision.