Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the oldest uncompleted enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check was submitted.

The oldest uncompleted application for an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate was received on 30 May 2014.

It would not be appropriate to comment further on this specific case. But there are a number of factors which can affect the timely completion of checks. These include the length of time it can take for an employer to deal with the initial application, the accurate completion of the application form, the clarity of the information provided, the existence of conviction or non-conviction information and the operational effectiveness of the disclosure units of the police forces involved in the enhanced process. In some cases, forces will ask DBS to clarify some details provided by the applicant which requires further investigation and this can cause further delays.