The Government's long-awaited Criminal Records Bureau is set to go
live in March, following months of delays amid concerns about the
integrity of the data upon which it relies.
A Home Office spokeswoman said, "The Criminal Records Bureau will
go live in March for organisations with current access to police
checks."
The system's reliance on data from the Police National Computer
(PNC) has led to postponements for the bureau, which was scheduled
to go live in July 2001.
The Commons home affairs select committee last year found that up
to two-thirds of PNC data contained errors. It received evidence
that the error rate varied between forces from 15% to 65%.
The bureau has received the go-ahead despite ongoing work to
improve PNC data.
The spokeswoman said, "We are aware of concerns with the PNC data
but we are still working to rectify them."
The bureau, which was developed by ITservices firm Capita, is
designed to let employers check potential job applicants by
providing wider access to criminal record information.