http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/lett ... ction.html
Honest ex-offenders are illegally targeted on the pretext of child protection
Published: 12:02AM GMT 31 Oct 2009
SIR – Sir Roger Singleton, the Government's Chief Adviser on the Safety of Children (report, "Criminal checks even if you don't work with children", October 27) is right when he says that employers may feel pressured to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority, even if they are not required to.
The scheme is likely to introduce a de facto universal criminal record check on all occupations. Nacro is concerned not only at the risk of creating unnecessary regulation – beyond the proper realm of ensuring children and vulnerable people are safe – but also that it will make it much harder for people with irrelevant criminal records to volunteer or find work.
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Mervyn Barrett
Senior Resettlement Policy Officer, Nacro
London SW8
SIR – I am part of a home-education group that meets once a week for three hours. I have been told by the council that the adults will need a Criminal Records Bureau check if we are to continue.
I questioned this. No one is in loco parentis, as each child is accompanied by at least one of its parents.
I expect to see the day when a mother needs a CRB check before being allowed to take her baby home from hospital.
Angela Elliott
Welton le Marsh, Lincolnshire
SIR – My god-daughter, aged 17, will shortly be attending a four-day sports event where she will be billeted two to a room with others like her.
The third day of this event is her 18th birthday and according to this government she will immediately turn into a possible paedophile and not be permitted to continue to stay with her room-mate for the remainder of the event.
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Colin Patrick
Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire
SIR – My daughter is awaiting her fourth CRB check in three months, all identical apart from the name of the applying organisation.
She is a newly qualified primary school teacher seeking her first post. She is on the supply register for two counties, and is a volunteer helper in two nursery schools. All insist on individual checks.
Why not attach these checks to the individual, like a driving licence, to be shown on demand?
Rodney Perry
Kenilworth, Warwickshire
