96.This section sets out the factors that Ministers can take account of when deciding whether to remove a person from the register of accredited bodies because a “relevant individual” is not a suitable person to have access to disclosure information. A “relevant individual” is, in the case where the accredited body is an individual who is a sole business proprietor, that individual and, in the where the accredited body is a body corporate or unincorporated or a person appointed to an office by virtue of an enactment (a “body corporate accredited body”), the body’s lead signatory or any countersignatory.
97.Subsections (5) and (6) ensure that criminal conviction information about an individual giving rise to concern about the individual’s suitability to have access to information contained in a Level 2 disclosure is not disclosed to anyone other than that individual. This means that both the relevant person who Ministers consider may not be a suitable person to have access to that information and, where the accredited body is a body corporate accredited body, the accredited body, are entitled to make representations before a decision to remove the accredited body. But a body corporate accredited body will not be permitted to know the reasons for the proposed removal where the reasons relate to criminal conviction information of the accredited body’s lead signatory or countersignatory. A decision to remove an accredited body on the ground that a relevant individual is unsuitable can only be made in relation to the body’s registration to countersign applications for Level 2 disclosures; any registration relating to the making of applications for Level 1 disclosures on behalf of an individual would not be affected (see subsection (7)).