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Written Question
Vetting
Tuesday 3rd December 2024

Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) standard, (b) enhanced, and (c) basic Disclosure and Barring Service checks in (i) Basingstoke constituency, (ii) Hampshire, and (iii) England have exceeded the police's target response times in each of the last three years.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is operationally independent. Standard and Basic checks are not referred by the DBS to police forces. For Enhanced checks, application details may be referred to any police force that holds potentially relevant information and not just the police force where the applicant currently resides.

The DBS publishes its performance data for England and Wales on a quarterly basis. The most recently published performance data for the second quarter of 2024-25 which can be viewed at: DBS dataset 1: DBS checks, the DBS Update Service, and disputes - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), shows that the DBS achieved the following:

  • The target to process 85% of Basic checks within 2 days was met, with an average attainment of 88.6%.

  • The target to process 85% of Standard checks within 3 days was met, with an average attainment of 91.2%.

  • The target to process 80% of Enhanced checks within 14 days was not met, with achievement continuing to be impacted by the closure of a higher percentage of aged cases at the police force stage.

The DBS does not publish data broken down by constituencies, towns, cities or counties.


Written Question
Vetting
Tuesday 3rd December 2024

Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) standard, (b) enhanced, and (c) basic Disclosure and Barring Service checks in (i) Basingstoke constituency, (ii) Hampshire, and (iii) England have taken over 100 days to complete in each of the last three years.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is operationally independent. Standard and Basic checks are not referred by the DBS to police forces. For Enhanced checks, application details may be referred to any police force that holds potentially relevant information and not just the police force where the applicant currently resides.

The DBS publishes its performance data for England and Wales on a quarterly basis. The most recently published performance data for the second quarter of 2024-25 which can be viewed at: DBS dataset 1: DBS checks, the DBS Update Service, and disputes - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), shows that the DBS achieved the following:

  • The target to process 85% of Basic checks within 2 days was met, with an average attainment of 88.6%.

  • The target to process 85% of Standard checks within 3 days was met, with an average attainment of 91.2%.

  • The target to process 80% of Enhanced checks within 14 days was not met, with achievement continuing to be impacted by the closure of a higher percentage of aged cases at the police force stage.

The DBS does not publish data broken down by constituencies, towns, cities or counties.


Written Question
Vetting
Tuesday 3rd December 2024

Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the average processing time for Disclosure and Barring Service checks in (a) Basingstoke constituency, (b) Hampshire, and (c) England in the last 12 months.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is operationally independent. Standard and Basic checks are not referred by the DBS to police forces. For Enhanced checks, application details may be referred to any police force that holds potentially relevant information and not just the police force where the applicant currently resides.

The DBS publishes its performance data for England and Wales on a quarterly basis. The most recently published performance data for the second quarter of 2024-25 which can be viewed at: DBS dataset 1: DBS checks, the DBS Update Service, and disputes - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), shows that the DBS achieved the following:

  • The target to process 85% of Basic checks within 2 days was met, with an average attainment of 88.6%.

  • The target to process 85% of Standard checks within 3 days was met, with an average attainment of 91.2%.

  • The target to process 80% of Enhanced checks within 14 days was not met, with achievement continuing to be impacted by the closure of a higher percentage of aged cases at the police force stage.

The DBS does not publish data broken down by constituencies, towns, cities or counties.


Written Question
Shoplifting: Hampshire
Monday 25th November 2024

Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) reports of, (b) charges for and (c) convictions for shoplifting there were in (i) Basingstoke constituency and (ii) Hampshire in each year since 2010.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of shoplifting offences and their investigative outcomes recorded by the police in England and Wales on a quarterly basis.

The proportion of shoplifting offences, broken down by Police Force Area, including Hampshire, which resulted in a “Charge/Summonsed” outcome can be derived from the Outcomes Open Data tables, which can be accessed here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

Information at the Parliamentary Constituency level is not held by the Home Office.

The Ministry of Justice publish statistics on convictions at courts in England and Wales, including a breakdown of convictions at courts in the Hampshire police force area. These are available in the Outcomes by Offence data tool that can be accessed here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2023

In the last year of the previous government shoplifting soared to a twenty-year high.

This Government will end the effective immunity, introduced by the previous Government, granted to shop theft of goods under £200 and we will introduce a standalone offence of assaulting a shopworker, so everybody can feel safe at work.