14. Who will make barring decisions, what will be the process, will decisions be fair and will information be handled sensitively?
The lists of those who are barred from working with children and protected adults will be managed by a single agency that incorporates current disclosure services and the new range of scheme membership and barring services. The agency will include a Central Barring Unit (CBU) that will collect and assess information to enable expert, fair and consistent decisions about unsuitability to be made on behalf of Scottish Ministers.
The intention is to make the decision making process as transparent as possible, while protecting the confidentiality of individual cases. As part of the development of operating processes for the CBU, great attention is being given to both developing an organised and consistent approach to assessing risk in individual cases and defining the knowledge, skills and competencies required of people who will be involved in the process. The roles of expert panel members and the contribution of external specialists in interpreting the most complex cases will be carefully considered.
It is important to remember that we are not starting from scratch. The Scottish Government has considerable experience of operating the determination process for the Disqualified from Working with Children List under the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003. To date there have been no successful appeals against a listing decision. Therefore the agency will be starting from a strong position which will inform its development.