Statement by Euan Robson to the Education Committee on
Wednesday, 22 December 2004
The aim of Parliament in introducing this Act was to
ensure that the most effective protection for children was available.
This Act strengthens that protection and, in doing so, creates
a number of new offences.
We are keen to give effect to the additional protections
for children which Parliament has agreed
are necessary as soon as possible. Because of concerns expressed
by the voluntary sector during the passage of the Bill about
the need to allow them time to prepare we agreed not to implement
the Act for at least a year. We therefore undertook to implement
not before Spring 2004 but by the end
of the year.
Since making the Commencement Order on 1 December to
bring the Act into force on 10 January we have listened to the
concerns of some members of the voluntary sector about a further
period of time being needed for them to be ready for implementation.
We have also listened to the concerns of MSPs and members of
the Education Committee about the position of some voluntary
sector organisations.
I met representatives of the sector on Monday afternoon
and Tuesday morning.
From those discussions I understand the key concern is
that there are some voluntary sector organisations that are
unaware of the requirement to check new appointees for the wide
range of positions covered by the Act. It was the intention
of Parliament that the Act should be wide in scope to cover
the voluntary sector but we understand there are some who are
still not aware of the implications of the new requirement.
We have therefore looked at the Act in relation to that
particular offence and propose that we defer the offence element
only for a period of three months.
In doing so we want to ensure that the maximum protection
available to children under the Act is in place from the commencement
date of 10 January. Under this proposal, from that date :
·
Individuals will commit an offence from that
date if they are on a list of those disqualified from working
with children and they continue to work or seek work with children
·
Organisations will be required to make referrals
to The List of Those Disqualified from Working with Children
if they dismiss an individual or move them from a childcare
position because they have caused harm to a child or placed
a child at risk of harm. All other requirements on referral
will also apply from that date, for example to refer those they
would have dismissed or moved if they had not resigned before
this could be done
·
All organisations that need to will be able
to make checks against the lists from that date although they
will not be at risk of committing an offence if they do not
do so until the three month period for preparation is concluded.
This is the key point made to me by voluntary organisations
in discussions in the last few days. While the offence element
is deferred we know that many organisations are fully aware
of the Act and are ready to deal with its provisions. Our expectation
would be that those organisations that are aware of the new
requirement will check all new appointments from the 10th
January
·
Organisations will be able to make referrals
retrospectively for any dismissals or moves made before the
Act entered into force if they wish to do so. There is no duty
to make retrospective referrals but it is open to organisations
to do so if they consider it necessary
The technical means by which this can be done is relatively
simple. We would need to make one amendment to the Commencement
Order to bring Section 11(3)(a) into
force from 11 April. That gives a further three months for preparation.
There will be no further change from that date. I would hope
the Committee would support this position.
There is no date yet fixed for the introduction of 11(3)(b)
which would trigger the need for retrospective checking. This
is to be subject to further consideration as to how that requirement
might best be managed.
The Determination Regulations, which are the technical
regulations currently subject to scrutiny, would remain as they
are and enter into force on 10 January. They are needed from
that date to set out the procedures under which decisions on
referrals would be made.
22 December 2004
