Updates from the ISA Website
Taken from ISA website on 4/5/2011
On February 11 2011 the Coalition Government published the findings of its Review into the Vetting and Barring Scheme. You can read the report here
Key recommendations from the VBS Review include:
- The merging of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) to form a streamlined new body providing a proportionate barring and criminal records checking service;
- A large reduction of the number of positions requiring checks to just those working most closely and regularly with children and vulnerable adults;
- Portability of criminal records checks between jobs to cut down on needless bureaucracy;
- An end to a requirement for those working or volunteering with vulnerable groups to register with the VBS; and
- Stopping employers who knowingly request criminal records checks on individuals who are not entitled to them.
We are currently awaiting further details and will be working with the Home Office, the Department for Education, the Department of Health and the CRB to help implement the new arrangements.
The Coalition Government has confirmed that until all the appropriate legislation has been introduced and the new arrangements are established, the existing responsibilities of employers and the ISA will remain.
These include:
- A person who is barred from working with children or vulnerable adults will be breaking the law if they work or volunteer, or try to work or volunteer with those groups.
- An organisation which knowingly employs someone who is barred to work with those groups will also be breaking the law.
If your organisation works with children or vulnerable adults and you dismiss or remove a member of staff or a volunteer because they have harmed a child or vulnerable adult, or you would have done so if they had not left, you must tell the Independent Safeguarding Authority.
Link to the full Auto barring Scheme - ISA Website
