Threshold for CRB offences under review
Joe Lepper
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
The government is to consider widening the definition of a criminal record when employers decide on a person's suitability to work with children.
In her second review into criminal records and vetting and barring procedures, the government’s independent adviser on criminality information management Sunita Mason wants to widen the definition to include convictions for non-imprisonable offences as well as cautions, reprimands and warnings from police.
In its response to the review, the Home Office confirmed it will review the definition of a criminal record.
Any extension to the definition will not include penalty notices for disorder or restorative justice and community resolutions as they do not involve a formal admission of guilt.
Mason said the current system – whereby only convictions for imprisonable offences were recorded – created "anomalies", such as ignoring offences such as cruelty to animals, which can carry large fines.
She said: "Some convictions for non-recordable offences, such as causing unnecessary suffering to animals, which may be an important factor in determining a person’s suitability to take up a role with children or vulnerable adults should, in my view, be recorded centrally in order that they can be disclosed."
Many of her previous recommendations, made in her first review, have now been incorporated into the Protection of Freedoms Bill.
This includes stopping checks on under-16s and giving applicants the chance to review and dispute information on them held by the police.