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Summary
110. This discussion paper has been produced in response to the Education Committee's stage 1 report on the Protection of Vulnerable (Groups) Bill. The preference to see draft regulations prior to the amending stage in the Bill would have led to a significant delay in progressing the primary legislation and securing the robust safeguards and protections which will flow from the new vetting and barring scheme.
111. To provide assurance that the primary legislation will yield an effective vetting and barring scheme, this discussion paper sets out the issues and policy options on the three substantive secondary legislation areas namely, retrospective checking, determination criteria, and fees. It is important to stress that we are not consulting on the detail of these issues at this stage. Full and comprehensive consultation will follow.
112. This is a pre-consultation phase which will inform the further development of the policy options on the three substantive areas which will be consulted on in the summer and then followed by consultation on the draft Scottish Statutory Instruments in the autumn..
113. At this pre-consultation stage early views from stakeholders are being canvassed on:
Retrospective Checking
- whether to have retrospective checking or whether to rely on natural turnover of staff to bring people onto the new vetting and barring scheme. Views are also invited on the sub-option of indicating that retrospective checking will occur but leaving the detailed consideration of how and over what period until the new vetting and barring scheme has been operational for a period of time perhaps three to five years.
- whether a carefully managed or an open programme of retrospective checking is favoured by stakeholders. If the former is preferred, what parameters could be used to control the phasing in and to what extent should this be tightly managed?
- the duration of phasing-in. Effectively we are asking at what point is the right balance struck between securing robust protection and the full benefits of the vetting and barring scheme, and, managing the burden falling on organisations of bringing their existing workforce onto the new scheme.
Determination Criteria
- the information issues relevant to consideration for determining an individual's unsuitability to work with vulnerable groups.
- whether they favour a broadly higher or lower threshold for barring whilst recognising that actual decision will be underpinned by clear criteria to take into account in determining whether an individual should be barred.
- the extent of automatic processing as compared to detailed consideration of each and every case from the simple through to the complex.
Fees
- the relative merits of an initial fee for membership followed by additional charges for subsequent checks, as compared with a one-off payment for scheme membership each ten years or an annual subscription.
- the merits of further exploring the feasibility and costs of electronic scheme membership.
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