Supply teaching agency Timeplan has called for a national ID card system for teachers to replace the failing Criminal Records Bureau.

Timeplan’s chairman Ian Penman wrote to Home Secretary David Blunkett asking him to introduce a photo-ID card system, like those in the United States.

Cards could be matched via the internet to a central government-maintained databank containing teachers’ records. This would hold details of the teacher’s qualifications and criminal convictions, as well as complaints made against them, replacing the current paper-based CRB system.

Penman said the current process is “cumbersome and inefficient”. Disclosures produced by the CRB are valid only on the day they are issued – a teacher could receive a criminal record the day after without the CRB picking it up, he said.

Penman said: “We need a national register of people who have been cleared to work with children – a register that is online so that individuals can be removed immediately and employers can check regularly.”