Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to provide additional support to police forces impacted by increased volumes of disclosure applications.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is operationally independent from the Home Office and works directly with police forces to process disclosure applications.

Overall, police performance remains strong: the DBS sends approximately 3 million checks each year to the 52 police forces and law enforcement agencies commissioned to carry out checks on DBS's behalf. The DBS regularly published updates on performance for their enhanced checks. Thelatest data set can be found here: DBS dataset 1: DBS checks, the DBS Update Service, and disputes - GOV.UK

A small number of forces are currently experiencing delays in completing checks. The DBS supports police forces by funding additional staff to handle increases in volumes of checks where necessary, and funding overtime. Police forces with capacity are also helping other forces with outstanding cases, where shared IT platforms allow.