Despite its good intentions, the Criminal Records Bureau's disclosure service has been as popular among youth workers as Ken Livingstone's congestion charge has been with some London drivers.
Like Livingstone's system, the service was built to address an unpleasant but real fact of everyday life: in this case, to provide organisations with background checks on new staff and volunteers who will have contact with young people and children. To provide a regulated one-stop shop, checks are made against records held by the police, the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills.
The system has been dogged by delays in processing applications. A voluntary organisation wanting to check staff must do so via one of 8,200 registered bodies allowed to work with the bureau.
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