Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what his Department's implementation plan is for banning the box on job applications.

DCMS is committed to offering all applicants equality of opportunity to apply for job roles, to ensure that we attract and retain candidates with the most talent and potential. The DCMS recruitment process does not require applicants to declare unspent criminal convictions upon application.

However, applicants are asked to declare unspent criminal convictions as part of basic employment checks when a provisional offer of employment has been made. Decisions concerning appointment to a post where an individual has a conviction history are made on a case-by-case basis using risk assessments.