Changes to CRB check scheme "still not enough" (From Bournemouth Echo)

Changes to CRB check scheme "still not enough"

3:00pm Tuesday 15th December 2009 in

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CHANGES to the rules on vetting adults who work with children or vulnerable people do not go far enough, and the whole system should be scrapped for a new scheme, according to a Dorset-based education campaigner.

Margaret Morrissey, the founder of website Parents Outloud, was speaking out after Children’s Secretary Ed Balls announced the scheme, which would have forced up to 11 million adults to be checked, had been watered down.

Mr Balls said he had accepted all the recommendations of an independent review into the Vetting and Barring Scheme.

Adults will now only have to be vetted if they see the same group of children or vulnerable people once a week or more, rather than once a month.

Mrs Morrissey, who has gone through three checks, said the current system was “going into the realms of nonsense” and the changes did not go far enough.

She believes that one CRB check should be sufficient, with any updates added to a database, in a similar style to driving licence data.

“Unless you have had a conviction you will pass the check,” she warned.

Mrs Morrissey added: “I think what he needs to do is take the whole thing away and let’s start the whole thing from scratch.”

MP Annette Brooke said: “The whole system is too complex and difficult to understand. As the legislation progressed, the government just made it more and more complicated and yet the basic principles are important.

“The Soham situation was a great tragedy and there was data that was around on the caretaker, Ian Huntley, but under the old system it didn’t get pulled together.

“The right balance must be struck and I suspect even more amendments will be necessary.”