Independent Safeguarding Authority denies plan to check adults who drive groups of children is intended to create mistrust
The Criminal Records Bureau's disclosure application form, which teachers have to fill in before they can begin work in a classroom. Photograph: Public Domain
Proposed vetting procedures for parents who regularly drive groups of children on behalf of sports or social clubs are not intended to create mistrust between adults and children, the chairman of a Home Office agency has said.
Sir Roger Singleton, chairman of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), said parents should not overreact to the scheme, which will oblige them to undergo criminal record checks before they can ferry groups of children.
He told the British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect congress in Swansea: "It is not about interfering with the sensible arrangements which parents make with each other to take their children to schools and clubs. It is not about subjecting a quarter of the population to intensive scrutiny of their personal lives. And it is not about creating mistrust between adults and children or discouraging volunteering.
"It is about ensuring that those people who have already been dismissed by their employers for inappropriate behaviour with children do not simply up sticks and move elsewhere in the country to continue their abuse. And it is about bringing an end to the need for repeated CRB [Criminal Records Bureau] checks, which so many people have found irritating. ISA registration is a one-off process for a single fee."
Parents who fail to register with the scheme face fines of up to £5,000 and criminal prosecution. Clubs such as the Cubs and Scouts face fines of up to £10,000 if they use volunteers who have not been cleared.
Parents who host foreign pupils as part of school exchange trips will also have to be vetted. A total of 11.3 million people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are expected to register with the ISA.
The scheme received the support of the NSPCC. A spokesman said: "The current system of criminal record checks is inadequate and can only ever catch those who have already offended. Such checks only provide information at a single point in time and many who abuse have no prior criminal record. Improvement is essential.
"We encourage all those who volunteer or work with children to recognise that such checks are necessary and that they are not intended to cast suspicion over the many who give up their time to help children but to weed out the few seeking to abuse them."
There has been criticism of the plans. The shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, said: "This scheme cannot be allowed to go ahead in this way. We would review the whole safeguarding process and scale it back so that common sense applies. Of course we have to check out those people who have jobs working with children, but the idea that we would vet 11 million parents is complete nonsense."
Sue Gwaspari, the director of part-time volunteering at Community Service Volunteers, said: "We must do everything we can to protect children from the attentions of criminals, but in doing so we must be careful not to add additional barriers that will discourage volunteers from giving their time and creates a world of distrust and apathy.
"Children's experience at school, involved in sport and/or leisure activities, is enriched by the involvement of hundreds of volunteers who willingly give their time. Eternal vigilance, good support and supervision gives greater protection than any check, however thorough."