A GLARING loophole threatens to undermine Ruth Kelly’s reforms to prevent sex offenders working with children, The Times has learnt.
It emerged yesterday that despite the barring of teachers, assistants and janitors from working with pupils before they are passed by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), those running out-of-school clubs for children over eight years old are exempt from the law.
The omission, raised by children’s charities within hours of the Education Secretary’s announcement, has serious implications for the Government’s pledge to provide working parents with “wrap round” childcare from 8am to 6pm in England by 2010, much of it based in schools.
Last night Anne Longfield, the chief executive of 4Children, urged the Government to extend its reforms to cover all out-of-school clubs for children over 8, “some of which are unregulated and may not enforce criminal record checks”.
It also emerged that Ms Kelly was responsible for half the decisions to allow people on the sex offenders register to remain eligible to teach in schools. She told the Commons yesterday that ten people on the register had been given approval by ministers to work in schools since 1997, as The Times disclosed last week.
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But she did not add that a report she had placed in the Commons Library made clear that five of the cases were dealt with in 2005, her first year as Education Secretary. There was one case in 2004 and two each in 2002 and 2000.
Ms Kelly said that none of the ten was working in a school. Police had visited them and judged that none posed a “current risk”. However, they and 78 other sex offenders identified by the Education Secretary will remain eligible for jobs in schools. Ms Kelly’s decision to ban those convicted or cautioned for sexual offences against children will not apply retrospectively.
Ms Longfield said that a lack of regulation by Ofsted meant that some people working with over-8s may not be police checked. “In a less formal, out-of-school environment, this will raise concerns for many parents,” she said. She said that “the long-standing gap” in the law would be addressed partly by a new voluntary Ofsted register proposed in the Childcare Bill, but added: “This has to be a comprehensive system, which has the breadth and depth to offer the safeguards children and parents need and deserve, across activities and services for children, inside and out of school.”
Ms Kelly told MPs that there had been 88 cases since 1997 involving individuals who had committed sex offences and not been placed on List 99, barring or restricting their employment in schools. Decisions on 46 involved offences pre-dating the 1997 establishment of the register. Ms Kelly said there was “no evidence” in 32 cases that those involved were working with children. One was working in education, but not in a school, and police had judged that there was no cause for concern. Checks on 13 others had yet to be completed.
Police were reviewing 32 register cases to see if they should be on List 99. The cases had not previously gone to the Department for Education and Skills for consideration.