“In a forthcoming policy paper for Halsbury’s Law Exchange I discuss the employment vetting system, in the light of the changes made by the Protection of Freedoms Bill. Although in some respect the Bill is welcome, I argue that it does not go far enough in reforming this difficult area.”
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 7th September 2011
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
“More than nine million people working or volunteering with children and vulnerable adults will no longer need to register and be monitored by the state.”
Home Office, 11th February 2011
Source: www.homeoffice.gov.uk
“Millions of people will be protected from unwarranted state intrusion in their private lives, the Home Secretary has outlined in today’s Protection of Freedoms Bill.”
Home Office, 11th February 2011
“Nurses who were banned from working under a controversial vetting scheme are to launch a major test case against the Government in the European Court.”
Daily Telegraph, 30th January 2011
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“The system of checks that people working with children and vulnerable adults are required to undergo will be considered afresh in a radical examination of the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS). The Government today outlined the terms of a thorough review of the VBS which will re-examine whether the scheme is the most appropriate mechanism to protect children and vulnerable people and, if so, how many roles should be covered by it.”
Home Office, 22nd October 2010
Source: www.homeoffice.gov.uk
“An anti-paedophile vetting scheme that would have forced nine million people to undergo checks is to be ripped up under a review to be announced today, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.”
Daily Telegraph, 22nd October 2010
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Children would not be protected by Labour’s controversial anti-paedophile database, according to experts, because sexual predators are more likely to find victims online rather than in their workplaces.”
Daily Telegraph, 29th June 2010
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Registration with the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) will be halted to allow the government to remodel the scheme back to proportionate, common sense levels, it was announced today.”
Home Office, 15th June 2010
Source: www.homeoffice.gov.uk
“Controversial new rules requiring adults who have frequent access to other people’s children to be enrolled on an official register are to be dramatically scaled down, just two months after they were introduced.”
The Independent, 13th December 2009
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“Up to 15,000 people have been wrongly branded criminals or accused of more serious offences by the Government agency which vets the backgrounds of people who want to work with children, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.”
Daily Telegraph, 11th November 2009
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“New vetting checks designed to protect children and vulnerable people carry a “real risk” of undermining public confidence, the Supreme Court has said.”
BBC News, 29th October 2009
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Few parents will have forgotten the day they handed over their child to a nursery worker or other carer for the first time. For many, the experience would have been tinged with a sense of guilt – but all will recall the overwhelming need to trust the person into whose hands you deliver the most precious thing in your life. The horrors that unfolded at Little Ted’s Day Nursery in Plymouth will increase the anxieties of couples who, with the aid of the Government, have turned to professional childcare in ever greater numbers over the past decade. According to the National Day Nurseries Association, 15,500 nurseries in Britain cater for 700,000 pupils. Pre-school children spend an average of 21 hours a week in nurseries, a study by the Department for Children, Schools and Families found recently.”
The Independent, 2nd October 2009
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“The government is to look again at the detailed operation of its controversial scheme to vet the 11 million adults who are in regular contact with other people’s children in the face of a public outcry that it could jeopardise ‘perfectly safe and normal activities’.”
The Guardian, 14th September 2009
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The man whose inquiry led to new vetting procedures for adults working with children today calls on the Government to rethink parts of its controversial anti-paedophile register.”
The Independent, 6th August 2009
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“More than 1,500 people have been wrongly branded as criminals or mistakenly given a clean record by the government agency set up to vet those working with children, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.”
Full story
Daily Telegraph, 2nd August 2009
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Guidance for the controversial Independent Safeguarding Authority states that youths who want to help vulnerable groups will have to be vetted ‘in time for their 16th birthday to avoid committing an offence’.”
Daily Telegraph, 31st July 2009
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“The investigation into alleged child abuse at the Little Ted nursery is likely to consider whether the worker who was charged yesterday was subjected to the correct vetting process. Loopholes in vetting came to light after the Soham murders of 2002. Yet a new system designed to strengthen checks has yet to come into force, although ministers say they are confident that they will meet the latest deadline of this October.”
The Times, 11th June 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“The number of people forced to undergo vetting by the Criminal Records Bureau has doubled in the last five years to nearly 3 million.”
Daily Telegraph, 8th August 2008
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Hundreds of innocent people have been wrongly branded as criminals by the Government agency set up to vet people working with children, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.”
Daily Telegraph, 5th July 2008
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
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