Home Office denies Capita handout

The Home Office has denied claims that more public money will be given to Capita to improve the running of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB).

Newspaper reports earlier this week suggested that the government was to give Capita more money.

But a spokeswoman for the Home Office dismissed the claims. "There will be no additional payments outside the £400m, 10-year contract with Capita," she said.

The CRB was to help organisations such as schools and hospitals to weed out candidates who may pose a risk working with children or other vulnerable members of society.

It combines the work of authorities such as local police forces and the Department for Education and Skills, which previously undertook such checks.

The next stage of the CRB's operations, known as basic disclosures, has been delayed since last year and will not go live until the service is working correctly.

The Home Office spokeswoman said: "It will continue to be postponed until such time as we can introduce it without the service being swamped.

Checks are currently taking just over a month, she admitted. "The contracted service standards are still three weeks, but the reality is that the current average time is five weeks."