Criminal Record Bureau

, You may have heard on the ‘Today’ programme this morning a piece about enhanced Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) checks and the case of the woman who had left her children at a park playground for a short time while she went shopping. These enhanced checks show not only convictions but also other information held by the police which can be taken into account when someone is applying for a job, such as one involving close contact with children. If you are planning to cover this issue, Robert McCreath, employment partner Archon, has some thoughts on it below which may be of use to you: "This highlights the difficulties with enhanced checks at one end of the spectrum. Some way towards the other end, I have dealt with a case where a teacher had been charged with (and acquitted of) serious sexual offences against pupils, where the police believed that there was evidence to suggest that the teacher might well have been convicted of a less serious offence. The Soham case illustrated the importance of potentially including more than just information about convictions in CRB checks and this should not be forgotten. However, the disclosure of subjective information from the police as well as objective facts about convictions brings up difficult civil liberties issues and there is a delicate balance to be struck. In my view, clear guidelines should be provided to the police as to what should or should not be recorded about individuals and people should be told what is being recorded about them, so that if necessary they can challenge it through the data protection legislation." Contacts: Rob McCreath, Partner, Archon Solicitors: 020 7 397 9650 r.mccreath@archonlaw.co.uk www.archonlaw.co.uk Lauren Alexander, Maltin PR: 020 7887 1357 lauren@maltinpr.com www.maltinpr.com Photograph: www.maltinpr.com/rob-mccreath