Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Maria Miller (Conservative) on Tuesday, 11 November 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 13 November 2008. It was answered by Meg Hillier (Labour) on Thursday, 20 November 2008 on behalf of the Home Office.

Vetting: Overseas Residence

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps need to be taken in order to facilitate the taking into account of relevant offences committed overseas when individuals put themselves forward to be monitored under procedures established under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.
Answer

I have been asked to reply.The Independent Safeguarding Authority, established under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (2006), can use foreign offences information when deciding whether to bar individuals from working with children or vulnerable adults.There are several ways this information can be accessed. Under an EU Council Decision agreed in November 2005, an EU member state must inform the UK if a UK national is convicted in that other EU state. This information is put onto the Police National Computer (PNC) and is available for the disclosure services.Under the same Council Decision criminal conviction information can also be sought on EU nationals being proceeded against in the UK and any information received from other member states put onto the PNC. A standard format for securely exchanging this information electronically was agreed at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 24 October.The UK sees information sharing as a key priority for the next EU work programme. We have signed the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Abuse and Sexual Exploitation which recognises the need to share information among member states for child protection purposes.The Criminal Records Bureau is pursuing bilateral agreements, for example with France, Ireland and Australia, on exchanging information for employment vetting purposes. But, this is a difficult area and so far only three of the 26 EU countries approached have said they can co-operate with us on these bilateral agreements and we recognise that there is much more work to do on this.Sir Ian Magee's Review of Criminality Information published in the summer recommended that by January 2009, the Government should agree an approach to the international exchange of criminality information and that vetting and barring should be a priority area. The Government expect to publish its response to the review shortly.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
483 c789-90W; 235896
Session
2007-08
Subjects
International cooperation Vetting
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk