Citation, commencement, extent and interpretation

1.-(1) This Order may be cited as the Disclosure and Barring Service (Core Functions) Order 2012 and comes into force on 1st December 2012.

(2) This Order extends to England and Wales.

(3) In this Order "the 1997 Act" means the Police Act 1997(2).

Core functions under Part 5 of the Police Act 1997

2. The following functions are specified as core functions of the Disclosure and Barring Service(3) under Part 5 of the 1997 Act for the purposes of Schedule 8 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012-

(a)treating an application under section 113A(4) of the 1997 Act as an application under section 113B(5) of the 1997 Act and vice versa (in accordance with sections 113A(5) and 113B(7) of the 1997 Act);

(b)determining the conditions on which an application under section 113A or 113B of the 1997 Act can be transmitted electronically (in accordance with sections 113A(2A) and 113B(2A) of the 1997 Act;

(c)the identification of the relevant chief officer under section 113B(9) of the 1997 Act;

(d)imposing any conditions concerning information to be provided in relation to a request for update information under section 116A(2)(6) of the 1997 Act;

(e)handling any disputes raised under section 117(7) of the 1997 Act;

(f)verifying identity under section 118(8) of the 1997 Act;

(g)receiving information under section 119(1)(9) of the 1997 Act;

(h)requiring information from the chief officer of police under section 119(1B)(10) of the 1997 Act;

(i)paying such fee as the Secretary of State considers appropriate under section 119(3)(11) of the 1997 Act;

(j)receiving information under section 119(4)(12) of the 1997 Act for the purposes of considering any application for registration, any application mentioned in section 116A(4)(a) or (5)(a), or the determination of whether a person should continue to be a registered person;

(k)the maintenance of the register of registered persons under sections 120 and 120ZA(13) of the 1997 Act;

(l)the refusal, cancellation or suspension of registration under sections 120A(14), 120AA(15), 120AB(16) of the 1997 Act;

(m)the refusal to issue a certificate or the decision to suspend or cancel the registration of a person under section 122(3), (3A) or (3B)(17) of the 1997 Act;

(n)the determination of forms under section 125B(18) of the 1997 Act.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order specifies the core functions of the Disclosure and Barring Service ("DBS") under Part 5 of the Police Act 1997 ("the 1997 Act"). Functions which are core functions of the DBS cannot be delegated to a person who is neither an appointed member nor a member of staff of the DBS (under paragraph 7 of Schedule 8 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012). The functions specified in article 2 of this Order are the functions under Part 5 of the 1997 Act which cannot be delegated.

These functions include decision-making about what information needs to be submitted in an application for a certificate, whether a certificate was correctly applied for, setting conditions for the use of the electronic service and the up-date service, indentifying the chief officer of police for the purposes of providing information in relation to an application, dealing with disputes over certificates, verifying the identity of applicants, receiving police information and paying fees for that information and maintaining the register of persons able to countersign applications, including dealing with suspension and cancellation of that registration.