Commenting on the publication of the Police and Justice Bill, Liberal Democrat Policing Spokesperson, Lynne Featherstone MP said:
“The Bill gives the Home Secretary carte blanche to meddle in the composition of police authorities without having to ask for Parliamentary approval.It gives absolutely no reassurance to those of us who fear the loss of local accountability under the police merger plans.
“The proposal for the police to be sent a list of every passenger on every domestic UK flight is a deeply worrying intrusion into people’s private lives.It adds another building block in the construction of surveillance society.
“This Bill would have been a golden opportunity to reform the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act which currently bars many ex-offenders from finding work.The Government has been promising action on this since 2002.Instead of taking an important step to cut reoffending, they have chosen yet again to focus on centralising power.”
Lynne Featherstone 
Couldn’t agree more. They should start first with repealing Sch49 S10 CJI Act 2008 which neatly slipped recipients of cautions into the ROA 74. What did this do, did it protect them? No, it labelled them as ‘rehabilitated ex-offenders’ and holders of ‘criminal convictions’. The fact of the matter is that recipients of cautions are INNOCENT people and cautions are informal penalties issued by an informal body, the police. They are NOT statutory convictions.
Why did the ROA 74 not help people with cautions? Because at the same time, the number of occupations requiring CRB checks and exempting themselves from the ROA 74 increased significantly.
The ROA74 is for rehabilitated offenders, not for holders of informal penalties.
Start by repealing this awful law and then make the necessary alterations to Part V Police Act 97 S115 7 a&b so that cautions and malicious unproven hearsay do not appear on CRB checks for prospective employers to make incorrect snap judgements about a person’s character.
Gossip feeds gossip and labels harm greatly.
CRB checks render RoA completely toothless; either people are allowed a second chance, as it were, or they are not. I do believe that some crimes are beyond the pale, rape and murder spring to mind, but the vast majority of crimes are small-time and should not result in a lifetime of poverty of opportunity. Keep battling for reform please Lynne.