Both the National Society for the Protection of Children (NSPCC) and the Irish Society for the Protection of Children (ISPCC) said they hoped the debate in the Assembly would significantly improve vetting procedures for people working with children. Last week SDLPmember Patricia Lewsley put forward a private member's motion calling for interim steps for improvement, 'in view of the anomalies in the current vetting system'.
The most recent figures from the RUC show that in 1999/2000 there were 788 sexual offences involving children reported in Northern Ireland. However, Ms Lewsley said, because a variety of reasons meant many of the perpetrators would not be prosecuted, the result was very few convictions or abusers' names added to the sex offenders register. 'That underlines the importance of the Pre-Employment Consultancy Service (PECS), which operates outside the criminal justice system and should detect those people who harm children in a variety of settings but are not prosecuted,' she said.
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