http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 956734.ece
Foreigners exempt from checks to stop child abusers, watchdog warns
Rosemary Bennett, Social Affairs Correspondent
15th December 2009
Thousands of foreigners who work with children will escape the full checks designed to stop abusers, the Government’s safeguarding watchdog has warned.
Sir Roger Singleton, the Government’s child protection adviser, said that there were “significant barriers” preventing officials from obtaining details of criminal offences committed abroad, by both foreigners and Britons.
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“I’m looking to see that work taken forward as quickly as possible, but there is no doubt that there are some particular difficulties. If you take the age of consent — it is 12 in Thailand, it is 16 in this country and 20 in California. What is the basis on which information is exchanged if something is regarded very differently in different countries?”
No one has been able to calculate how many overseas nationals work with children, or vulnerable adults, Sir Roger admitted.
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