Protection of Vulnerable Groups - Scottish Parent Councils Association

Responses to Issues

Protection of Vulnerable Groups – Vetting and Barring Scheme – Scotland Update August 2007

SSBA Executive Board Representatives attended various Working Group meetings following the Bichard Inquiry
set up by the Home Secretary into the events leading up to the Soham murders.We have kept an interest in
matters relating to this and matters relating to Disclosure, Vetting and Barring.

The following update is worth noting: “Disclosure” will be a once only process with updates and not a
separate disclosure application for individual situations.

The Scottish Government is taking forward a comprehensive implementation programme to deliver the
provisions outlined in the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) (Scotland) Act 2007.

The PVG Act will deliver a robust vetting and barring scheme that will safeguard children and protected
adults by keeping people who would harm them out of caring positions. It will also deliver a fair and
consistent system that will be easier for people to understand and use.

A new electronic scheme record system that will be continuously updated will be introduced. This will make
it easier to identify people who are (or who become) unsuitable to work with vulnerable groups and deliver
an additional tool to help employers make safe recruitment decisions. In addition, the scheme will help to
reduce bureaucracy as it will no longer be necessary to undergo a long and complicated disclosure process
each time a person changes posts.

The detail of the new vetting barring scheme will be developed through secondary legislation during the
course of 2007/08. Consultation on the secondary legislation is expected to begin towards the end of 2007.
More details about the consultation and associated activities will be available shortly.

For more information and regular updates visit - http://www.scotland.gov.uk/pvglegislation..

More on the Protection of Vulnerable Groups

PVG Act Implementation - Communications Core Script

The Scottish Government is taking forward a comprehensive implementation plan to deliver the provisions outlined in the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007. This Act delivers a robust vetting and barring scheme that will safeguard children and protected adults by keeping people who would harm them out of caring positions and a fair and consistent system that will be simple and easy for people to use. The scheme is expected to go live towards Spring/Summer 2009.

You may wish to provide your members or stakeholders or your staff/volunteers with information about the vetting and barring scheme which will affect more than 800,000 people who work with vulnerable groups in Scotland.

To assist, we have drafted the attached script. You are welcome to use it in full or in part in any of your organisation's communications such as newsletters, bulletins, magazines, website or intranet.

We hope this is helpful and look forward to providing further information as implementation of the Act progresses.

Jan Murray
Protection of Vulnerable Groups Act Implementation Team
Children, Young People and Social Care Directorate
The Scottish Government
Tel: 0131 244 4907

[PVG Act - Implementation - Communications - Core Script - September 2007.doc]

PROTECTION OF VULNERABLE GROUPS (SCOTLAND) ACT 2007

The PVG Act will deliver a robust scheme that will safeguard children and protected adults by keeping people who would harm them out of caring positions and a fair and consistent system that will be quick and easy for people to use.

It will focus on a range of policy choices and questions such as:

What should fall within the scope of regulated work?
How should we define a protected adult?
How we should we go about getting the regulated workforce registered in the scheme?
How long should scheme membership last?
Should certain offences lead automatically to someone being barred from the relevant workforce?

http://www.protectingvulnerablegroups.com/

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/topics/people/young-people/children-families/pvglegislation/