Up to nine million fewer volunteers and workers will no longer need toregister, under measures in the Freedoms Bill.
Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said, 'We inherited a messy criminalrecords regime that developed piecemeal. Our reviews concluded thesystems were not proportionate and needed to be less bureaucratic. Theywill now be scaled back to sensible levels while at the same timeprotecting vulnerable people.'
The plans include:
- merger of the Criminal Records Bureau and Independent SafeguardingAuthority (ISA) to create a new 'streamlined body'
- a large reduction in the number of jobs working with children andvulnerable adults that require CRB checks, to only those involving closeand regular contact
- the ability to carry over a CRB check from one job to another to cutdown on bureaucracy;
- an end to the requirement for those working and volunteering withchildren and vulnerable adults to register with the VBS and then bemonitored by the ISA
- job applicants to see their CRB check before prospective employers, somistakes can be corrected.
Andrew Flanagan, chief executive of the NSPCC, said, 'Eliminatingemployees and volunteers having to undergo repeated CRB checks everytime they apply for a new job is right. But all employers shouldregularly check these certificates online for new information.
'For the new arrangements to work effectively, organisations must alsohave robust monitoring policies in place. Many people, in both paid andunpaid situations, pose a risk to children but do not have convictions,so it's important that non-conviction data continues to be part ofdisclosure certificates.'
- See Policy Q & A, page 26.
