Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on the potential effect of delays in the processing of criminal record check disclosures on sporting activities.

Protecting the public is a priority for this Government and it is important that checks undertaken are thorough; a proportion of the applications received by the DBS must be referred to one or more police forces as part of the enhanced disclosure process. In the vast majority of cases these checks are completed within target.

Whilst no assessment has been made of the impact of timeliness on sporting activities, it is recognised that delays may create problems for some people. We will not compromise when it comes to the safety of children and vulnerable adults.