CRB checks hampering Oxfordshire initiative, senior RSO claims

The new Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks, which were introduced in April 2002, are putting volunteers off applying to train as tutors in Oxfordshire's ‘Footsteps’ programme, according to Ian Harris, the county’s principal road safety officer.

Footsteps is a practical on-road child pedestrian training scheme for schools, pre-schools, childminders and parents, which was developed in Oxfordshire and has been running for about ten years. It has been adopted by a number of other local authorities. There up to 500 volunteers working in Oxfordshire at any one time, so CRB checks are a big issue for the road safety team.

"Problems with workload appear to be preventing the CRB from processing applications for organisations to become a registered body," Ian Harris (pictured below) says. "Disclosures are currently taking six to eight weeks to be returned instead of the promised three weeks.

"In addition, valuable road safety staff time is being absorbed by the need to visit volunteers to see the considerable amount of personal documentation they are required to produce to prove their identity," Ian continues. "Potential volunteers are understandably reluctant to send passports, bank statements and birth certificates by post – so we are having to check these documents at their homes."

We asked the CRB’s Mark Crawford to respond to the points made by Ian Harris. "I am not sure how the CRB can be ‘putting people off’ as the necessity for checks is set out in legislation to allow the recruiter make a more informed decision," he said. "The CRB purely delivers the check."

"With regard to the time taken to turn checks round, as you can imagine starting a new agency is often fraught with teething difficulties. That said, we have an improvement plan in place with the aim of reducing the current turnaround time to the published objective of three weeks. It is also perhaps worth noting that the current turnaround time is on par with that provided by the 43 police forces prior to the CRB being formed earlier this year.

"As far as considerable road safety time being taken up visiting and completing forms, we did not envisage people visiting applicants to help complete the form. It may be a case of education and assisting RSOs to find better ways of handling CRB checks. Perhaps some authorities have good practice that could be circulated to other teams? In addition, I am more than happy to provide support for large groups in the form of a working group or educational seminar.

"In summary, the CRB is here to help protect children and vulnerable adults. Our checks assist the recruiter by providing them with the information required to make a more informed recruiting decision. The CRB is also keen to assist our partners - the Registered Bodies - by providing educational support and assistance."

Oxfordshire's road safety team would be interested to hear how others are dealing with this situation - and whether it is having an impact on the numbers of volunteers coming forward for other projects around the country.

Ian Harris can be contacted by email at: Ian.Harris@OXFORDSHIRE.GOV.UK

Mark Crawford at the CRB can be contacted by email at: Mark.Crawford@crb.gsi.gov.uk.