Tory MP to push bill to keep fewer childhood crimes on permanent record

Theresa Villiers is leading a cross-party group of MPs pushing for changes to the law so that fewer minor convictions are kept on a person’s permanent record
EPA
Kate Proctor10 October 2018
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Teenagers who commit minor drink and drugs offences should not be “punished their whole lives” by potential employers being able to find out about their convictions, a former Cabinet minister said today.

People who had “very minor brushes with the law” when under 18 are being blocked from work and educational opportunities, according to Conservative MP Theresa Villiers.

She is leading a cross-party group of MPs pushing for changes to the law so that fewer minor convictions are kept on a person’s permanent record.

Ms Villiers said: “We have one of the toughest regimes in the world relating to criminal records. In many cases they have to be declared, so many people are forced to live with the mistakes they made as children.”

Some convictions, or cautions, for under-18s can become “spent” after a period of time, meaning they do not have to be disclosed to a potential employer. But even in these cases a conviction might not be filtered out during an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check. Offences such as actual bodily harm, drunk and disorderly, possessing cannabis and common assault can be flagged up when someone applies for a job — particularly in care, the NHS and education.

Ms Villiers wants reforms to the DBS system and the length of time before a conviction is spent. And she said: “It would be helpful to reduce the list of offences which can never be filtered.”

She was presenting a Ten Minute Rule Bill, the Criminal Records (Childhood Offences) Bill, in Parliament today. It is backed by Tory Victoria Prentis and Labour’s Kate Green and David Hanson.

A government spokesman said: “We recognise the need for young offenders to be able to turn their lives around and offences committed by under 18s are already disclosed for shorter periods than those committed by adults.” The Supreme Court is considering cases that challenge the disclosure regime.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in