Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's policy is on pre-adult criminal offences being carried over into adulthood when a Disclosure and Barring Service check is requested by a legal adult.

For standard criminal record checks and enhanced criminal record checks a conviction incurred by a person under the age of 18 is disclosable for five and a half years from the date of conviction. A caution, reprimand or warning incurred before the age of 18 is disclosable for two years from the date it was issued.

However, certain specified offences or a conviction receiving a custodial sentence will always be disclosed, and if someone has more than one conviction, then all their convictions will be disclosed. This is the case regardless of whether the convictions were incurred under the age of 18 or as an adult. The arrangements are set out in the Police Act 1997 as amended by the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Record Certificates: Relevant Matters) (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2013.

A basic certificate will disclose any unspent convictions and conditional cautions as provided for by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.