Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the guidance by her Department entitled Disclosing your criminal record, published on 28 October 2023, on what evidential basis the guidance says that one in four people of working age have a criminal record.

The statistic that approximately one in four people have a criminal record is based on Home Office data on the Police National Computer compared with population data.

An updated estimate of the number of individuals of working age (16-64 and 16+) with a nominal record on the Police National Computer was published on 28 October 2024. The data can be found here: Number of working-age individuals with a record on the PNC - GOV.UK.