Recommendation R20: Standards for police vetting checks
From The Bichard Inquiry Report, published 22 June 2004.
Recommendation
HMIC should develop, with ACPO and the CRB, the standards to be observed by police forces in carrying out vetting checks. These should cover the intelligence databases to be searched, the robustness of procedures, guidance, training, supervision and audit.
In brief (written by this site)
The Home Office stated in May 2006 that the recommendation was completed (Home Office, May 2006). In December 2004, the department reported that the CRB, working in conjunction with the police service, had taken the lead in developing a QAF to provide detailed guidance and interactive tools to Disclosure Units, adding that the QAF was trialled and immediately implemented at Lancashire Constabulary due to its success, and further refined following a review by a practitioners group (Home Office response, Dec 2004).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
Working in conjunction with the police service, the CRB has taken the lead in developing a QAF to provide detailed guidance, with supporting interactive tools, to Disclosure Units on how to carry out their role. The QAF was trialled at Lancashire Constabulary where, due to its success, it was immediately implemented and further refined following a review by a practitioners group.
Blanket government agreement does not establish acceptance or delivery by each addressee. Some response passages cover groups of recommendations.
Scope of the government response
The Government accepted all 31 recommendations collectively: the Home Secretary's written statement of 11 January 2005 records that "All 31 recommendations were accepted by the Government when the Inquiry reported in June 2004". No document states an acceptance decision for any single recommendation. The response shown against each recommendation is the Home Office's answer to it in the first progress report, sent to Sir Michael Bichard on 22 December 2004 and placed in the Library of the House on 11 January 2005. The Government then reported against the recommendations three more times, in November 2005, May 2006 and May 2007; the updates shown are taken from those reports.
Delivery
Home Office says completed (25 May 2006)
Recommendation 20 completed.
From: Bichard Inquiry Recommendations: Third Progress Report
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Home Office
Response, delivery statement