Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many discretionary referrals have been made from the National Crime Agency Child Exploitation and Online Protection unit to the Disclosure and Barring Service in each of the last five years.

Child Exploitation and Online Protection unit (CEOP) Command works with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to check the details of individualsagainst CEOP records when requested to do so, however they do not makediscretionary referrals. Like its predecessor (the Criminal Records Bureau), the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) has access to Police National Computer (PNC) records which includes details of those who have been charged or convicted in connection with CEOP Command investigations. This allows the DBS to undertake checks when criminal records certificates are applied for or referrals are receivedfrom employers or others.