Commons clash over foreign crimes

Last Modified: 10 Jan 2007
By: Cathy Newman

John Reid has clashed with Tories over criminals who have not been vetted upon return to the UK.

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Home Secretary John Reid acknowledged there had been "fundamental flaws" in the system for processing details about people convicted of crimes abroad.

The latest fiasco triggered a furious exchange in Prime Minister's Question Time, with Tory leader David Cameron describing Mr Reid as Labour's "fourth failing Home Secretary". In a statement to MPs, Mr Reid said police had identified the 540 "most serious" cases among a pool of more than 27,500 offenders.

So far, details of 260 have been entered on the Police National Computer (PNC) but the remaining 280 cannot be processed until more details are obtained from the countries where the crimes took place, he said.

The Home Secretary said the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) will now check whether any offenders have mistakenly been given the all clear to work with children or vulnerable adults. Mr Reid told the Commons: "The process for handling these notifications when they arrived in the United Kingdom was fragmented and piecemeal.

"There were, therefore, fundamental flaws in the sending of information and the receipt of information." Mr Reid said the backlog of less serious offenders - about 27,000 cases - should be processed within three months after he asked the Association of Chief Police Officers and the CRB to accelerate the process after pledging extra funds.

Mr Reid said an internal inquiry into the Home Office's handling of the criminal records notifications should be complete within six weeks.

In the Commons, Mr Cameron told Prime Minister Tony Blair: "The names of these people have been sitting in box files and you are admitting today that not all of their details have been put on the Police National Computer.

"You've confirmed that yet again the Government has failed in its central duty of protecting the public." He added: "On taking office, Mr Reid said he was going to have a fundamental review of his department. A hundred days later he said: job done.

"We now know there are 500 criminals on the loose and his department did virtually nothing about it."