Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to set up an independent body to process Disclosure and Barring Service checks with formalised processing time targets.

As an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body of the Home Office, the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is already an operationally independent body. It also already operates to formalised service standards of completing 85% of Basic check applications within 2 days, 85% of Standard check applications within 3 days, and 80% of Enhanced check applications within 14 days.

Its latest performance against these service standards is available at DBS dataset 1: DBS checks, DBS Update Service, and disputes - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).