Explanatory note

These Regulations, which come into force on 1st April 2009, make provision in relation to certificates of criminal records etc under Part V of the Police Act 1997 (“the 1997 Act”).

Regulation 2 prescribes the Criminal Records Bureau and the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency as police forces for the purposes of section 113B of the 1997 Act. The effect of this is to confer on those bodies functions of providing information in relation to applications for enhanced criminal record certificates.

Regulation 3(2) provides that the Criminal Records Bureau is prescribed as a relevant police force for the purposes of an application for an enhanced criminal records certificate only in circumstances where the application made shows no UK residence address in the last 5 years and where no other police force appears to be relevant to the application.

Regulation 3(3) and (4) provides that an applicant for a criminal record certificate or an enhanced criminal record certificate can, with the consent of the Secretary of State, choose to have his fingerprints taken by a person registered under section 120 of the 1997 Act (such as a prospective employer) rather than at a police station in order to provide evidence of his identity.