Nursery World - Confusion dogs police checks (1)

The confusion over criminal records checks for nursery staff in Scotland is so widespread that even some officers working for the new Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care did not know what was going on until a fortnight ago, Nursery World has learned. Applications for checks need to be countersigned by a body registered with Disclosure Scotland, the new criminal records checks organisation. In March the Scottish Executive said the Care Commission would act as the registered body for private nurseries and other childcare providers (News, 21 March). However, it has since emerged that this is not the case, although the Commission did act as an agent between providers and the Scottish Criminal Records Office before Disclosure Scotland started operating on 29 April (News, 2 May).

Applications for checks need to be countersigned by a body registered with Disclosure Scotland, the new criminal records checks organisation. In March the Scottish Executive said the Care Commission would act as the registered body for private nurseries and other childcare providers (News, 21 March). However, it has since emerged that this is not the case, although the Commission did act as an agent between providers and the Scottish Criminal Records Office before Disclosure Scotland started operating on 29 April (News, 2 May).

A Care Commission officer, who asked not to be named, said that she had only become aware of the situation two weeks ago. 'Everything came to a halt and providers were phoning up and saying, "Who's going to do the checks?" We said that it had stopped for the time being. Then we found that some of them had been told they would have to register themselves.

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