Protecting Children - Securing their Safety

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Summary of Proposals

I. The intention is to identify, and make known to prospective employers, people considered unsuitable to work with children either as paid employees or unpaid volunteers. These people world be identified in two ways, the first being through inclusion on a central list or Index.

2. Names to be considered for inclusion on the Index would be those of persons who had been dismissed or transferred from positions giving access to children by reason of misconduct which had caused a child harm or had put a child at risk of harm. The names of persons who resigned in such circumstances to avoid dismissal would also be considered for inclusion.

. Regulated employers in the fields of childcare, healthcare and education would be required to notify the Index of those falling into one of the categories above. These employers would also be required to check with the Index the names of those they propose to employ in posts involving regular contact with children, and they would be prohibited from appointing any person included in the Index to such a position. Other employers would be permitted to notify names and to consult the Index (Voluntary sector employers would fall into both fields depending on the nature of their activities.)

4. Any person whose name is notified to the Index would be invited to submit observations and any such observations would be considered before a decision is taken (by the Scottish Executive) on whether or not to include that person's name on the Index.

5. It would also be possible thereafter to appeal against inclusion on the Index. Anyone whose name is included on the Index would be able to ask for their inclusion on the list 10 be reconsidered after a specified period.

6. The arrangements would provide for information from the Index to be made available in due course through the Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO) as pail of the "one-stop shop" arrangements provided for in the Police Act 1997 and in the Protection of Children Act 1999 In other words Index information will be obtainable at the same time as criminal record Information. The arrangements would also provide for the sharing of information with the Criminal Record Bureau for England and Wales, once established, and the relevant body in Northern Ireland.

7. The Index would be capable of being extended in due course to cover those who may be unsuitable to work with vulnerable adults.

8. The second category of people considered unsuitable to work with children would comprise those who have convictions for certain specified offences. Details of these people would be made available to eligible organisations by the SCRO as part of a criminal record check.

9. Persons whose names are on the Index and/or who have convictions, as described above, would be disqualified from working with children or from applying to work with children. Disqualified persons would commit an offence If they continued to work with children or if they applied to work with children.

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