Presentazione

da "www.timesonline.co.uk" dell'11.9.09

Rosemary Bennett, Social Affairs Correspondent

Parents who ferry groups of children to Scouts, Brownies or after-school sports clubs will have to undergo a criminal record check or face fines of up to £5,000.

They are the latest group to fall within the scope of the Government’s vetting and barring scheme, which is due to be introduced next month. Officials estimate that more than 11 million people — almost everyone in any position of authority who comes into contact with children — will have to be registered with the new Independent Safeguarding Authority. The scheme is aimed at stopping paedophiles infiltrating children’s activities, but critics believe that far too many innocent people will be affected.

Controversially, complaints or concerns from colleagues or members of the public that fall short of prosecutions may be held on an individual’s file, which will be available for viewing by any employer or voluntary group with which the person might work.

Home Office officials said yesterday that the authority would be required to consider all information it received, regardless of the source. Officials predict that 10 per cent of people who apply to register will have on their file information other than the result of the simple criminal records check, and so will require follow-up inquiries. That could include concerns from a colleague who did not want to take the matter to the police or local authority, to a full police investigation that did not lead to a prosecution.

The current regime requires only that employers make sure that anyone working with children has not been prosecuted for offences in relation to young people. Failure to register under the new system could lead to criminal prosecution and a court fine of £5,000. Clubs that use volunteers who are not registered face fines of £10,000.

Home Office officials said that informal arrangements between parents to offer lifts or host sleepovers would not be covered. However, parents who host foreign pupils on exchange programmes will have to have register if the exchange is organised by a school.

Every school governor, doctor, medical student, nurse, teacher, dentist and prison officer will also have to register.

A Home Office spokesman said: “Anyone working or volunteering on behalf of a third-party organisation — for example, a sports club or a charity — who has frequent or intensive access to children or vulnerable adults will have to be registered with the scheme. We believe this is a common-sense approach, and what parents would rightly expect.”

Registering will cost £64, or is free for volunteers. The authority starts work on October 12 but individuals will not have to register until July.

Two hundred case workers at the authority, based in Darlington, will collect information passed to them and rule on who should be barred from working with children. It is estimated that the number of banned people will double to 40,000.

The scheme was recommended by the Bichard report into the murders in Soham, Cambridgeshire, of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman by Ian Huntley, a school caretaker. He was given the job despite claims of sex with young girls in his past, which were not passed on because they had not led to prosecution.

Critics of the scheme include Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials. He has called the new system “corrosive to healthy social interaction” and has pledged to stop giving readings at schools. As a regular visitor to schools, he would have to be registered with the authority. The Liberal Democrats are also highly critical, calling the scheme a disproportionate response that risks deterring volunteers.