R25 Response Accepted AI-assessed

Fingerprints for identity verification

Recommendation

Fingerprints should be used as a means of verifying identity.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, which received Royal Assent on 8 November 2006, implemented robust identity verification methods for DBS checks (Gov.uk progress, 2006-11-08). However, the Act did not adopt fingerprints as a general means of verifying identity for these checks, indicating a partial implementation of this specific recommendation.
How was this assessed?
Assessed by gemini-2.5-flash on 18 Mar 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.gov.uk, hansard.parliament.uk, www.legislation.gov.uk
This recommendation asks for cultural or behavioural change, which is difficult to verify objectively. The assessment is based on policy commitments, not measured outcomes.
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Accepted
Accepted Home Office
22 Jun 2004

The Home Secretary made a statement to Parliament on 22 June 2004, the day the Bichard Inquiry Report was published, accepting all 31 recommendations in full. The government stated it was "in principle, accepting Sir Michael's main recommendations and will act on them immediately." Implementation led to the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and the creation of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (now the Disclosure and Barring Service). By February 2007, 21 of the 31 recommendations had been fully or substantially completed. See Hansard, 22 June 2004.

Read Full Response
Note: Government responded with a single statement accepting all 31 recommendations. Individual per-recommendation responses were not published separately.
Progress Timeline
Home Office states: Official Report
08 Nov 2006

Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 received Royal Assent. The Act implemented other robust identity verification methods but did not adopt fingerprints as a general means of verifying identity for DBS checks.

Source
Source
Inquiry Bichard Inquiry
Report The Bichard Inquiry Report 22 Jun 2004
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Home Office Primary
Themes & Tags
Police Vetting Inconsistencies Vetting Identity Verification
Recommendation age 21.8 yrs
Last formal update 7076 days ago