A senior official in the Department of Trade and Industry has hit back at complaints from recruiters that it does not have enough inspectors to police the industry properly.

Vic Patterson, head of employment agency standards at the DTI, told attendees at last week’s meeting of the Recruitment Society that this was “clearly not the case”.

Many recruiters have complained to the DTI that they don’t feel there is enough random inspection in the industry, particularly after a number of high profile cases – such as the Soham murders – where agencies have been blamed for not carrying out adequate checks on candidates. Many believe the threat of external inspection would be enough to deter unscrupulous new entrants to the market on its own.

But Patterson argued that the DTI only had the capacity to respond to complaints and to target geographical or business areas where it felt these practices may be underway: “The inspectorate follows up every complaint it receives concerning breaches of the relevant legislation by employment agencies.”

•In addition, the DTI has promised to respond to confusion among online recruiters as to whether they are affected by the new Employment Agencies Act regulations. “The minister will respond to those proposals in the summer,” Patterson said. “We will also seek the views of those in the private recruitment industry more generally, many of whom do not operate online, and of those who use the online recruitment services.”