NORTH Yorkshire Police has defended the time it takes dealing with applications to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Hugh Bayley, MP for York Central, said the force’s figures for DBS applications - which vet the suitability of individuals to work with vulnerable people - were “the worst in the country by a long margin”, with only one in ten being processed within two weeks.

Deputy Chief Constable Tim Madgwick said the processing times quoted by Mr Bayley “do not represent the current situation”, as they related to the last financial year. He said: “Significant improvements have been made since then and North Yorkshire Police are now exceeding national targets.

“During 2013-14, North Yorkshire Police received an unpredicted increase in demand of several thousand DBS applications, far exceeding the capacity of the staffing levels within the team.”

He said increased staffing levels had helped clear the backlog, and applications are now turned around within seven days.

The most recent figures showed 98.04 per cent of checks were carried out within 14 days, exceeding the national target of 85 per cent, while 99.39 per cent were completed within 25 days, exceeding the national target of 95 per cent.