Register a duty to children

When we first started several years ago, our aim was to get a national registration scheme with a central database which would track all care workers in Britain. This, coupled with a national training scheme to set and maintain standards, would go some way to form a safe and professional care service.

Unfortunately none of these initiatives seem to have borne fruit. In my view we have settled for compromises that do not go nearly far enough to protect children.

The Government, despite the need for a national registration scheme which would track all childcarers, set up a database employers could tap into, and monitor standards, is relying on police checks through its Criminal Records Bureau and the Department of Health consultancy index. But relying on police checks assumes that any premeditated abusers will already have a criminal record, though this is clearly not the case, while the consultancy index relies on negative information being highlighted rather than a full database on all workers. If I was a premeditated child abuser, I would be looking for these potentially less-regulated areas.