Government announces changes to Vetting and Barring scheme

The government has announced the content of the forthcoming Protection of Freedoms Bill, which will significantly reduce the scope of the Vetting and Barring scheme and lead to the merger of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent Safeguarding Authority.

The merged body will be responsible for providing a more "proportionate" checking service for those adults that come into contact with children, which will see many of the 4.5m adults covered by the previous scheme removed from the need for checks. Those in regular contact with children will continue to be vetted, but many who do occasional, supervised volunteer work will not.

The bill promises a "portability of criminal records checks between jobs to cut down on needless bureaucracy" and to stop "employers who knowingly request criminal records checks on individuals who are not entitled to them". Job applicants will also be able to see the results of their criminal record check before their prospective employer so mistakes can be corrected.

The changes follow a review of the vetting and barring scheme initiated in June last year and coincide with the publication of the review's findings. A copy is available online at the following link: Home Office VBS Report.

The recommendations of the review, which are expected to be included in the bill, include:

• A state body should continue to provide a barring function to help employers protect those at risk from people who seek to do them harm via work or volunteering roles.
• The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) should be merged and a single Non-Departmental Public Body or Agency created to provide a barring and criminal records disclosure service.
• The new barring regime should cover only those who may have regular or close contact with vulnerable groups.
• Barring should continue to apply to both paid and unpaid roles.
• Automatic barring should apply for those serious offences which provide a clear and direct indication of risk.
• Registration should be scrapped – there should be no requirement for people to register with the scheme and there will be no ongoing monitoring.
• The information used by the state barring body (currently the ISA) to make a barring decision should be serious in nature.
• Criminal records disclosures should continue to be available to employers and voluntary bodies but should be revised to become portable through the introduction of a system which allows for continuous updating.
• The new regime should retain current arrangements for referrals to the state barring body (currently the ISA) by employers and certain regulatory bodies, in circumstances where individuals have demonstrated a risk of harm to children or vulnerable adults.
• The current appeals arrangements should be retained.
• The state barring body should be given a power to vary review periods in appropriate circumstances.
• Services relating to criminal records disclosure and barring provisions should be self-financing. We recommend the Government consults on raising the cost of the criminal records disclosure fee to cover the costs incurred.
• The new system will retain two offences; it will continue to be an offence for a barred person to work with vulnerable groups in regulated activity roles. It will also be an offence for an employer or voluntary organisation knowingly to employ a barred person in a regulated activity role.

Children's Minister Tim Loughton said: "The new system will be less bureaucratic and less intimidating. It will empower organisations to ask the right questions and make all the appropriate pre-employment checks, and encourage everyone to be vigilant. Protecting children and keeping them safe remains our top priority, but it's also important that well meaning adults are not put off working or volunteering with children."

The forthcoming bill will also contain measures to restrict the investigative and monitoring powers available to local authorities and crime prevention agencies. These include the introduction of a code of practice for CCTV and Automatic Number Plate Recognition Systems to make them more proportionate and effective, and the right for any member of the public to refer a local authority for judicial review if their cameras are being used inappropriately. A new Security Camera Commissioner will ensure public bodies abide by the new code of conduct, reporting annually to Parliament and naming and shaming organisations using their cameras inappropriately.

Home Secretary Theresa May said: “The first duty of the state is the protection of its citizens, but this should never be an excuse for the government to intrude into people’s private lives. I am bringing common sense back to public protection.”