The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

Children, Young People and Social Care Directorate
Safer Children, Stronger Families Division

Victoria Quay
Edinburgh EH6 6QQ

1 November 2007

Dear Sir/Madam

PROTECTION OF VULNERABLE GROUPS (SCOTLAND) ACT 2007
CONSULTATION ON SECONDARY LEGISLATION

This consultation document invites comments on policy proposals for secondary legislation required to implement the vetting and barring functions introduced through the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007.

This is a substantial consultation through which the Scottish Government is seeking views on how best to use a range of powers available under the Act. The options set out seek to strike the right balance between proportionate protection of vulnerable groups and not unduly comprising the privacy rights of individuals, including their ability to work in their chosen career. Stakeholders' views are sought on how those powers might best be used to ensure effective and efficient operation of the vetting and barring scheme. For more information about the Act, go to: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Young-People/children-families/pvglegislation

To support this consultation, the Scottish Government is running a series of free consultation events that will take place across Scotland between November and December. More information on these events and registration details can be found at http://www.protectingvulnerablegroups.com/

Responding to this consultation

We are inviting responses by 12 February 2008.

The online response form can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Consultations/Current

Alternatively, the consultation paper is available in pdf format at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Consultations/Current which can be printed and completed manually. Please complete the tear-off response form in the pdf version and send to:

Comments, queries, alternative formats

If you have any comments or queries about this consultation document or if you would like it in hard copy or in alternative format, please contact:

Tel: 0131 244 4905
Email: Daniel.Bourner@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Stakeholders consulted

This consultation has been issued to over 3,000 organisations and individuals with an interest in vetting and barring. These include:

Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland
Care service providers
Chief Constables
Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
Crown Office
Disability Rights Commission
Disclosure Scotland
Faith groups
Housing Associations
Law Society of Scotland
Local Authority Chief Executives
Local Authority Directors of Education / Social Work / Finance / Children's Services
Lord President and Lord Justice General
Minority ethnic groups
NHS Board Chief Executives
Parent, carer and volunteer groups
Political parties
Professional regulatory and representative bodies
Scottish Court Service
Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People
Scottish Further Education Colleges
Scottish Higher Education Institutes
School and teacher representative bodies
Sheriffs, Sheriff Principals and Sheriff's Association
Unions
Voluntary organisations

Handling your response

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return (either on-line or by post if you are completing the consultation manually) the Respondent Information Form in Chapter 7, as this will ensure we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published, we will regard it as confidential and will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

When respondents have given permission for their responses to be made public (see the Respondent Information Form), these will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government Library and on the Scottish Government consultation web pages by April 2008. We will check all responses where agreement to publish has been given for any potentially defamatory material before logging them in the library or placing them on the website. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the Scottish Government Library on 0131 244 4552. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.

Scottish Government website

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us to reach decisions. We will issue a report on the consultation process in the spring of 2008.

This consultation and all other Scottish Government consultation exercises can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is.

The Scottish Government now has an email alert system for consultations at http://register.scotland.gov.uk/

This system allows stakeholders to register and receive a weekly email containing

details of all new consultations. It complements, but does not replace Scottish Government distribution lists and is designed to allow people to keep up-to-date with activities.

Thank you for taking time to participate in this consultation.

Yours faithfully

Dr Claire Monaghan
Deputy Director
Children, Young People and Social Care Directorate
Tel: 0131 244 7640

« Previous | Contents | Next »