Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average waiting time is for a Disclosure and Barring Service local intelligence check to be completed by the Metropolitan Police Service.

From June 2015 to May 2016, the average time taken to complete Disclosure checks by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) was 94 days and for the police as a whole, 22 days.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is working closely with the small number of forces, including the MPS, whose performance does not meet turnaround time targets. The performance of police disclosure units is an operational issue for individual police forces and the MPS has established a Gold Group to oversee the recovery plan which they have in place to reduce the time taken. I have made clear to the MPS that its current delays must be addressed as a matter of priority and I continue to maintain close oversight of the progress being made.