With regard to CRB checks (the name has changed slightly to DBS), here are some facts: there is no central database, so they are of no value for ad hoc checks. Each organisation that requires a CRB check has to obtain its own, it cannot rely on any other organisation sharing information. There is no set time limit, but three years is recommended before renewal is required. A basic CRB is limited to past convictions, not charges, and certainly not "suspicions". And of course it cannot take account of anything that occurs post CRB clearance.
CRBs were brought in following the school caretaker murders (Holly and Jessica, two girls who were murdered by a school employee who had past convictions for paedophilia), to pander to public opinion and help local authorities defend themselves against being sued for negligence in staff vetting.
The only people to have benefited from the introduction of CRB checks, are the organisations providing CRB checks- and they are doing very well.
I recently applied for several part-time jobs involving possible contact with vulnerable people or children. Each application had to be accompanied by a cheque for £100 to cover the CRB.So CRB were receiving multiple applications for the same person, possibly on the same day, each had to be processed separately and could not be shared, and were valueless the day they were produced as they did not take account of any offences I could have been convicted of following that day.
So to introduce CRBs would be to introduce expensive, worthless red-tape.
Last edited by sharksandwich; 5th Sep 2013 at 05:40.