---

Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 19:"Page 34, line 9, leave out ““it appears to the Secretary of State that””" The noble Lord said: In moving Amendment No. 19, I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 20, 25, 26, 30, 32, 36, 37, 48, 50, 111 and the rest of the amendments in the list indicated in the grouping. I can, however, assure Members of the Committee that they are minor and technical amendments to improve the drafting of the Bill. I set out the reasons for them in a letter which I sent to the Committee a few days ago. Perhaps I should highlight those minor and technical amendments which would benefit from some further explanation. Amendments Nos. 114 and 115, relating to Clause 22, change the circumstances in which an individual can request that monitoring ceases. The Bill places no duty on those who are engaging in controlled activity to be subject to monitoring. We expect guidance issued under Clause 20 to recommend that these individuals are subject to monitoring but, in the absence of a duty to be monitored, it is unjust that an individual would not be able to request that monitoring ceases—hence the provision we are making in those amendments. Amendments Nos. 126, 127, 131, 132 and 133 to Clause 27, and the proposed new clause to follow Clause 27, replace the duty on employment agencies and businesses to refer information to the IBB with a duty on ““personnel suppliers”” as defined in Clause 44(1) to do so. This definition, we believe, would more effectively include organisations such as teacher training colleges and nursing colleges than does the existing wording. Much of this new clause mirrors Clause 27, with the duty falling on personnel suppliers rather than regulated activity providers. These amendments will ensure that prescribed information in relation to a trainee teacher who engages in relevant conduct within the meaning of paragraphs 3 or 9 of Schedule 2 will be referred to the IBB by an educational institution which, for example, has asked him to leave his placement or course for that reason. Amendments Nos. 129, 144, 147 and 154 to Clauses 27, 30, 32 and 35 remove provisions in these clauses that provide protection from claims for damages arising from information which was referred, or which failed to be referred, to the IBB. These clauses need to be considered in the light of Amendment No. 159. It creates a single new clause to replicate and improve the current provisions but removes the current duplication in the clauses to which these protections apply.