Police National Database (PND) Guidance for Submission of Flagstone Records Redacted version for general publication Version 1.5R 14 th Dec 2017 Version History Version Date Details of Changes included in Update Author(s) No. 0.1 28/06/17 First created 0.2 30/06/17 Reviewed and amended 0.3 25/07/17 Amended to incorporate stakeholder review comments 0.4 01/08/17 Added College contact details 1.0 09/08/17 First Issue 1.1 25/08/17 Amendment to introduction to include Police Staff on Barred list as well as Officers 1.2 06/09/17 Amendment to GSC classification 1.2R 06/09/17 Redacted version for general publication 1.3R 06/11/17 Amended volunteer to designated volunteer 1.4R 04/12/17 Amendments to clarify example wording 1.5R 14/12/17 Amendments to Overview of Legislation
1. Introduction... 3 1.1 Purpose of this Guidance... 3 1.2 Overview of the new legislation... 3 1.3 Approach to be adopted... 5 2. Other flagstone record Guidance... 6 2.1 Review existing Flagstone data on PND... 6 2.2 Sharing Flagstone Records via PND... 6 2.2.1 Intelligence Report... 6 2.2.2 Person details... 7 3. Publication of Flagstone Records (In compliance with College of Policing processes under the Police & Crime Act 2017)... 8 3.1 Notifying the College of Policing of changes to the Barred or Advisory Lists... 8 3.2 Sharing via PND... 9 3.2.1 Recording Details in Local Intelligence System... 9 3.2.1.1 Intelligence Report... 9 3.2.1.2 Person Details... 10 3.2.2 Changes to an Individual s Flagstone Status... 10 Page 2 of 10
1. Introduction 1.1 Purpose of this Guidance OFFICIAL (public domain) Please Note This is the redacted version of the Guidance suitable for general publication. The full version of the guidance contains further details of how Flagstone records should be shared between Police Forces via PND and is issued to Police Force Professional Standards and IT Departments and is available via the PSD Community on POLKA. The aim of this document is to set out how Forces will use Flagstone records for information relating to officers/staff subject to the Barred and Advisory lists and to provide guidance on how these Flagstone records are to be created in a consistent/accurate and timely way. This will ensure compliance with the requirements of the new legislation enacted by the Police and Crime Act 2017 in respect of how information will be available for vetting purposes for the bodies with lawful access. The presence of this sign within the document indicates a point of key significance or importance. 1.2 Overview of the new legislation Schedule 8 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 which came into effect 15 December 2017, has created two statutory- approved lists, the police Barred list and police Advisory list both of which are required to be held and maintained by the College of Policing. Home Office Forces in England and Wales, local policing bodies, the HMIC and IPCC are legally required to check whether anyone they intend to employ/appoint is on those lists, and must not employ/appoint anyone on the Barred list. They must also consider any information on the Advisory list as part of their vetting process. The barred list has replaced the disapproved register previously maintained by the College. The legislation is not retrospective, so the data from the disapproved register cannot be transferred to the new lists. In due course, once forces have checked that all relevant vetting information they placed on the disapproved register has been reviewed and properly recorded as Flagstones in PND (where necessary), the disapproved register will be destroyed. Information to be held on the barred list will include members of forces (Police Officers /Special Constables and Police staff) dismissed from forces, or who a hearing determines would have been dismissed if they had not retired or resigned. Police forces and other specified law enforcement bodies) are required to check the barred list and are prevented from appointing those on it. It is understood that this scope is intended to be widened to further law enforcement agencies in time. The advisory list will list individuals who have resigned or retired from a force whilst still under investigation or who are subject to disciplinary proceedings which, if proven might Page 3 of 10
result in their dismissal. It will also include designated volunteers who are dismissed. It will be available to forces for vetting purposes but will not stop them appointing the individual. The College is responsible for the maintenance and administration of the lists and publication of the public list (officers on the barred list only, and for a period of five years from date published). Information is intended to be retained permanently on the private barred list and advisory list, although this may be subject to review on individual application after 3 years for performance, and 5 years for conduct dismissals Forces are legally required to inform the College asap (and within 5 working days) when an officer/staff member etc. becomes subject to either list, or when amendments need to be made (e.g. successful appeal to dismissal and require removing). Decisions in respect of who is required to go on the lists, movement between or removal from the lists remains a matter for the forces concerned, and in accordance with the legislation Following consultation with force vetting units, it was identified that, rather than have to carry out an additional vetting check on every potential new officer, employee or designated volunteer, (which would require a considerable investment in force Vetting resources), it would be both more efficient and effective for forces to use the Flagstone process that they already relied on for identifying those officers and staff who had been placed on the disapproved lists. As a PND check forms a routine part of all vetting checks, this is an effective way for forces to identify whether a potential applicant is on either list, or if there are other vetting concerns that fall outside of the legislation (e.g. dismissal by a force not covered by the legislation/dismissals prior to the legislation). If forces do find a Flagstone record, they will then seek the detailed information from the force placing the Flagstone, and also check against the registers hosted by the College on a private POLKA site established for this purpose. This process thus requires all forces covered by the legislation (and recommends to those not so covered at this time) to put a flagstone record on PND for those subject to the new Barred and Advisory Lists at the same time as updating the College (in line with the new legislation), and for force vetting units to routinely check PND as part of their vetting checks (as per current processes). For those forces not subject to the legislation (e.g non-home Office forces such as Police Scotland, BTP etc) correct use by everyone of the flagstone record process is really important as it means that they can still see the entries made by other forces via PND and use this information for intelligence purposes in their own vetting processes. Similarly flagstone record entries by non-home Office forces will be the only place they can put their information regarding dismissals and resignations under investigation etc, as they are not currently entitled to submit entries to the Barred or Advisory list. In the event that a potential appointee is found via a Flagstone to be on the Barred or Advisory lists, then the force conducting the check MUST ALSO advise and check with the College that the subject is in fact on the actual lists held by the College. These numbers are likely to be low, as those on the lists will be informed of the impact on any future application to work in policing and this double checking also ensures that the legislation is properly complied with, provides an audit facility, and also ensures that both the Flagstone and the List holds accurate data. Where no flagstone records are found however, forces will not be routinely checking the private list, so it is clearly absolutely essential that flagstone records are created in accordance with this guidance, where officers or staff fall into the required criteria to be on either of the lists. Page 4 of 10
1.3 Approach to be adopted The College of Policing are responsible for the administration of the Barred and Advisory lists and in liaison with the Vetting Community have determined that Flagstone records will form part of the process to ensure overall compliance with Schedule 8 of the Police and Crime Act 2017. The legislation requires any changes to the status of individuals (dismissal/appeals etc) to be notified to the College of Policing within 5 days, and the Flagstone records should also be created at the same time. These Flagstone records will ensure that timely data is thus available to Forces via their vetting units and thus ensure that forces can access the relevant data in their vetting processes. These details need to be shared on the Police National Database (PND) via the existing data feeds from Force Intelligence systems. Change to Individual s Flagstone Status No Is the record being created under the College process required for the Police & Crime Act 2017? Yes Follow Other flagstone record Guidance * Follow Publication of Flagstone Records * Additionally Follow: Error! Reference source not found. * No Is Intel Feed to PND Active? * Press Ctrl and left mouse button to navigate to the relevant section Page 5 of 10
2. Other flagstone record Guidance For all updates falling outside the new legislation (e.g updates from non-home office forces) but still requiring a flagstone record for vetting purposes. 2.1 Review existing Flagstone data on PND Forces are asked to undertake a review of any existing Flagstone details that they have published to PND via their Intelligence systems to ensure they adhere to the guidance below or are removed if no-longer appropriate. ACTION: Please search your Local Intelligence systems and/or PND for the term Flagstone to identify these. Each one must be looked at to ensure it is a Flagstone record within the terms of this document and not, for instance, flag stones 2.2 Sharing Flagstone Records via PND Forces should record details within their local Intelligence Systems so that their existing PND interfaces will publish the data to PND. 2.2.1 Intelligence Report Please ensure the Title and Body of the Intelligence Report both begin with the following text (including square brackets) exactly: [FLAGSTONE RECORD] The amount of detail included in the remainder of the Intelligence Report is at the discretion of the Force but should, as a minimum, include details of who to contact for further information. For example [FLAGSTONE RECORD] Individual was dismissed as from xxxxxx Police on dd/mm/yyyy. Please contact xxxxxx Police PSD for more information. Or [FLAGSTONE RECORD] Page 6 of 10
Individual resigned/retired on xxxx and currently subject to a Gross Misconduct Investigation. Please contact xxxxxx Police PSD for more information. Or [FLAGSTONE RECORD] Individual resigned/retired on xxxx whilst subject to a Gross Misconduct Investigation and it has been determined that they would have had a case to answer if they had not retired/resigned. Please contact xxxxxx Police PSD for more information. 2.2.2 Person details A Person record should be created for the individual concerned and linked to the Intelligence Report as the Subject of the report. Page 7 of 10
3. Publication of Flagstone Records (In compliance with College of Policing processes under the Police & Crime Act 2017) 3.1 Notifying the College of Policing of changes to the Barred or Advisory Lists Forces will be required to use Flagstone records as per the Guidance. Separate guidance has also been published by the College in respect of information to be sent to them in order to comply with the full legislation. Page 8 of 10
3.2 Sharing via PND 3.2.1 Recording Details in Local Intelligence System Forces should record details within their local Intelligence Systems so that their existing PND interfaces will publish the data to PND. 3.2.1.1 Intelligence Report The Header Details Text and the Title and Body of the Intelligence Report must be prefixed with the following text (including the square brackets): [FLAGSTONE RECORD BARRED LIST] or [FLAGSTONE RECORD ADVISORY LIST] If an individual is on both the Barred and Advisory lists, two Intelligence Reports should be created, one with the value [FLAGSTONE RECORD BARRED LIST] and another with [FLAGSTONE RECORD ADVISORY LIST] The amount of detail included in the remainder of the Intelligence Report is at the discretion of the Force but should, as a minimum, include the date of the dismissal and details of who to contact for further information. For example: [FLAGSTONE RECORD BARRED LIST] Individual was dismissed as a police officer / staff member for Gross Misconduct from xxxxxx Police at a hearing held at yyyyyy on dd/mm/yyyy. Please contact xxxxxx Police PSD for more information. Or [FLAGSTONE RECORD ADVISORY LIST] Police Officer/Police staff member resigned/retired on xxxx whilst subject to a Gross Misconduct Investigation Please contact xxxxxx Police PSD for more information. Page 9 of 10
Or OFFICIAL (public domain) [FLAGSTONE RECORD ADVISORY LIST] Designated Volunteer was dismissed for Gross Misconduct from xxxxxx Police at a hearing held at yyyyyy on dd/mm/yyyy. Please contact xxxxxx Police PSD for more information. 3.2.1.2 Person Details A Person record should be created for the individual concerned and linked to the Intelligence Report as the Subject of the report. 3.2.2 Changes to an Individual s Flagstone Status Where someone is removed from the advisory or barred list then the Force s local Intelligence system must be updated so the details are also either removed from PND or updated to no longer refer to [FLAGSTONE RECORD...]. If an individual is moved from the advisory list to the barred list then the Intelligence Report must be updated to reflect this. This does not require a new record, just an update of the existing one to change [FLAGSTONE RECORD ADVISORY LIST] to [FLAGSTONE RECORD BARRED LIST] Page 10 of 10