Security Checks
01 January 1991
Security Checks
artdoc May=1991
House of Commons written answer 15.10.90 Col.722-3
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett: To ask the Secretary of State for
the Home Department (1) how many security check inquiries were
made of the National Identification Bureau on individuals by
(a) Government departments and (b) other approved bodies in the
years 1986, 1987 and 1988; and if he will list the names of the
approved bodies who may undertake such inquiries;
(2) if he will list the areas of employment which require
security checks; and if he will list the areas of employment
of those individuals who were the subject of a security
check in 1989;
(3) what was the cost of making security check inquiries
on individuals in 1989.
Mr. Peter Lloyd: Details of criminal records are not
released to bodies outside the criminal justice system except
where disclosure is clearly in the public interest.
Information may be provided by the National Identification
Bureau to Government Departments and other bodies, direct or
through the police, for purposes such as the protection of
national security, the protection of children and other
vulnerable members of society and ensuring probity of justice.
This covers a wide range of areas of employment but detailed
records of these are not kept.
Under the terms of the data protection registration for
the police, information may be released to the following:
Central Government Departments
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority
Gaming Board for Great Britain
Office of Fair Trading
Local Authorities
Foreign Governments
Police Forces
Prosecuting Authorities
Courts
Judges
Magistrates
Probation Service
Hospitals, nursing homes
Banks
Lawyers
Research Organisations
British Telecom
British Broadcasting Corporation
Civil Aviation Authority
Post Office
Police Complaints Authority
General Medical Council and other similar
professional organisations
Official Receiver
Traffic Commissioners
Criminal Injury Compensation Board
Crown Agents
Crown Estate Commissioners
National Museums and Galleries
Royal Mint
United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
Securities and Investments Board
The purposes of criminal record checks by the police,
Government Departments or approved bodies are not
recorded centrally and the number and cost of those for
security vetting cannot be identified. The number of checks
undertaken by the Government searches section of the
National Identification Bureau for vetting and other
purposes was as follows:
Number
1,986,384,595
1,987,348,901
1,988,385,308
These figures represent the number of transactions
undertaken and not the number of individuals on whom checks
were made. The same individual may have been checked more than
once.
The estimated cost of the Government searches section in
1989 was about ¼500,000.
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett: To ask the Secretary of State for
the Home Department which Government Departments (a) presently
have access to the police national computer and (b) will have
access to the new police computer.
Mr. Peter Lloyd: In addition to the Home Office, HM
Customs and Excise investigation division and the Drivers and
Vehicles Licensing Agency have terminals giving them direct
access to some of the information on the police national
computer.
Consideration is being given to a proposal to allow a number
of other Government Departments to have direct access to the
criminal names index on the new police national computer. This
would enable Departments