Applications by people with previous convictions

Dear Sir or Madam,

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster,
House of Lords; Labour) recently responded to a question in the
House of Lords that sought the impact of the Private Security
Industry Act 2001 (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2009 on the
employment prospects of former offenders, particularly those who
offended as juveniles or have only offended once.

She stated that "Under the 2001 Act each application is assessed
individually taking into consideration the relevance, seriousness,
recency and disposal of each offence.

Juveniles are given special consideration under the Security
Industry Authority (SIA) criteria and are treated more leniently
than older offenders. This applies on a sliding scale according to
age for offenders aged from under 10 to 17 years. The SIA will
operate in Northern Ireland as it does in the rest of the UK."

I would like information which details the criteria that is applied
to people with previous convictions when applying to the SIA,
including details of the sliding scale, and other special
considerations given to people with past convictions. I do not want
this confined simply to those who offended between the age of
10-17.

Although I appreciate you that you cannot give a definitive account
of what would and would not amount to a decision, given that each
case is assessed individually, however I would like you to shed
some light on the decision making process that you have in place,
including details of the weight that you will attach to specific
criminal convictions, whether there are any convictions that will
result in automatic refusal etc.

In short, I would like to be put in a position where I would be
able to understand the process that is taken, to therefore be able
to understand to some extent the impact that a particular criminal
conviction may well have on an individuals application to the SIA.

Yours faithfully,

Christopher Stacey LL.B, LL.M