Childcare settings face tight staff law

Childcare settings and organisations in Northern Ireland will be prosecuted if they allow anyone to work or continue to work with children whom they know has previously been disqualified from doing so or is on a new statutory register of unsuitable people.

The move is one of a number of proposals to give greater protection to children and vulnerable adults from potential abusers, unveiled in Belfast last week by minister for health, social services and public safety Bairbre de Brun.

The plans for new legislation to improve existing vetting procedures for anyone seeking to work with children and vulnerable adults are contained in a consultation document, Proposals for a Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults Bill. It covers staff working in settings including education, health and social services, and those doing paid or unpaid work with voluntary organisations.

Among the other key proposals are the creation of new statutory registers which will include the names of individuals deemed unsuitable to work with children or vulnerable adults, and a right of appeal against inclusion on the registers.

Childcare settings and organisations will be required to carry out checks on any person to whom they intend to offer employment. New court orders will be imposed on certain offenders to disqualify them from working with children, and if an individual works or seeks work with children or vulnerable adults whilst listed on the new statutory registers or while subject to a disqualification order, they will be guilty of an offence.

Ms de Brun said, 'My aim is to establish a system which will provide adequate protection for the most vulnerable in our society from those who seek to cause them harm. I intend to do this by strengthening and extending our current vetting arrangements by giving them the backing of the law. A key point in the proposals will be the creation of statutory registers of people considered unsuitable to work with children and vulnerable adults.'

She added, 'It is also our intention that there will be closer collaboration between child protection agencies throughout Ireland and in England, Scotland and Wales. I want to ensure that we close the loophole of abusers avoiding detection by moving from one country to another.'

The Northern Ireland branch of the NSPCC welcomed the consultation and said it hoped that it would bring the Province's system of vetting those who work with children in line with developments in the rest of the UK.

Colin Reid, NSPCC policy adviser, said, 'The Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults Bill will present significant and unique challenges in Northern Ireland, particularly in ensuring appropriate vetting of people in a cross-border context. We also have an opportunity to ensure our legislation deals with some of the weaknesses in the UK procedures, so Northern Ireland will have a robust vetting system that stops unsuitable people from working with children.'

At present the checking of anyone seeking to work with children in Northern Ireland is through the Pre-Employment Consultancy Service, established in 1981 following the inquiry into children's homes and hostels after cases of abuse at the Kincora Boy's Hostel in Belfast.