Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department operates a ban the box employment policy in respect of ex-offender job applicants with unspent convictions; and how many employees of her Department have unspent convictions.

Defra is committed to offering job applicants who are ex-offenders equal and fair opportunities. This commitment is supported through membership and operation of the Business in the Community ‘Ban the Box’ scheme. Following the principles in this scheme, appropriate pre-appointment checks, including a basic criminal record check, are not made until later in the recruitment process.

However, Defra does not retain details centrally that would allow us to identify employees with unspent convictions so the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.