Policing and Crime Bill

My Lords, I wonder whether noble Lords would permit me to locate this debate within a wider debate. My sense is that in recent years there has been a significant erosion of confidence. Those who have had charges made against them, and where criminal proceedings have not been instituted, have nonetheless felt that they have not been thereby declared innocent. This has happened significantly in relation to Criminal Records Bureau matters. I speak as chair of the Church of England Board of Education, and in many schools there are those who have had accusations made against them. These remain on the record although no criminal proceedings were ever instituted. These are sensitive matters. I understand that it may not always be appropriate for the record to be totally cleaned, as it were. However, if there is any opportunity that can be taken now to redress that incipient lack of trust and confidence in the fact that once a person has not had criminal proceedings instituted against them, they are therefore innocent and there is no retention of evidence, we should take it. They may still feel that they are held to be accountable even though they have never been convicted. I present this within that wider context. I hope that accepting this amendment would perhaps give a signal, which could be a very welcome one in a culture of growing mistrust.