Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to reduce the number of people waiting for enhanced DBS checks to be processed by Sussex Police Force.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and Sussex Police are operationally independent. The prompt completion of enhanced DBS checks is an important part of the safeguarding system, and I understand that several measures have already been introduced to reduce application turnaround times at Sussex Police.
These include the DBS funding additional staff to manage increases in volumes of checks referred to Sussex Police, whilst also funding overtime at the force to minimise the impact while new staff are recruited and trained. Further support is provided through the implementation of training groups and buddies to progress staff through training stages more effectively, the funding of a dedicated training/assessor, and assistance from other forces where appropriate.
The DBS is closely monitoring the performance of Sussex Police and will continue to implement support wherever possible to ensure delays are minimised.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of a new European Youth Mobility scheme.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The UK currently operates 13 bilateral Youth Mobility Scheme arrangements, which allow young people aged 18-30 (18-35 for some nationals), to live, work and study in the UK for up to two years, with some nationals eligible to apply for a third year. Each country is subject to an annual quota, based on a yearly review of outbound UK participants of the scheme.
The European Commission has not approached the UK to consider a new European Youth Mobility Scheme. We will look at proposals on a range of issues, but we will not return to free movement and our focus is on reducing net migration after it rose to record highs.