BUREAU HIT BY pounds 2m FINE; Records company punished.

Byline: Tariq Tahir

THE private company runningLiverpool's crisis-hit Criminal Records Bureau has been hit with a fine of almost pounds 2m, it has been revealed.

Capita, which won the pounds 400m contract to run the computers at the vital bureau,has had to pay fines representing almost 10pcof the pounds 20mit has so far received.

The bureau, set up to protect children and vulnerable adults from sex offenders, has faced a chaotic start, with applicants for job such as teaching waiting months for clearance.

But, until yesterday, the Government had refused to reveal the extent of the fines imposed on Capita,citing commercialconfidentiality.

Now, after pressure from Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Matthew Taylor,culminating in the threat of a Parliamentary probe, the Government has finally revealed the extent of the fines. Capitahas paidbackin fines about a tenth of the pounds 20m it has so far been paid for its work at thebureau.

Over ten years, the company will be paid about pounds 400m,out of the near-pounds 1bn cost of the CRB. About pounds 1.1m of the pounds 1.8m penalty is for failing to meet times for processing checks on teachers and carers, and others working with children and vulnerable adults.

Mr Taylor said: ``It's clear there has been acatalogueof failures by Capita.

``It's a measure of how badly things have gone wrong that, of the pounds 20m spent, nearly pounds 2m has gone on fines.

``The fact that I had to makeacomplaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman highlights not only that ministers are refusing to answer questions, but that private contractors are getting away with not being answerable to the public by hiding behind commercialconfidentiality.

``If the Government goes down the route of public-private partnership, then private companies have to be held accountable for the tax-payers' money that they spend.'' He said both ministers and Capita should shoulder the blame for the problems that saw thousands of children staying at home last September while checks on their teachers were held up.

``Taxpayers deserve an apology from the Home Office and Capita for the thousands of criminal record checks that have been delayed or lost,and the misery that has been caused to so many people.''

Capita employs 550 staff alongside 400 civil servants in Liverpool, both represented by the Publicand Commercial Services (PCS) union.

A union spokesman agreed that both the Home Office and Capita were to blame for the fiasco at theCRB.

``This fine is in no way a reflection of the hard work of Capita and CRB staff and more a reflection on senior management.

``Our members have been working around the clock to clear the backlog and have even cancelled holidays.''

Capitaitself last night said the fine imposed on it was for outdated targets that had since been changed by the Home Office.

A spokesman explained the department had since paid the company pounds 8.4m for the impact of these changes. He added that, while some aspects of the contract would have to remain secret, Capita was happy for the fines it had incurred to be made public.

According to a Home Office spokesman, as of May 10, 35,685 applications were waiting more than six weeks to be processed.

About 40,000 were being processed a week, compared to 24,000 last summer,he said.