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Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill [HL]

I wish to speak to Amendments Nos. 68, 69, 70, 71 and 72. This cluster of amendments is intended to clarify the wording in the Bill on disclosures for elected members. The Bill fails to distinguish between a member of a local authority and an officer, even though those terms are defined differently under the Local Government Act 1972. The amendments come from the Local Government Association, which is keen to ensure that the scheme is clearly set out and is as easy as possible to implement at local level. The LGA’s position is that, as a rule, the scheme should apply to members and officers of local authorities but only those who discharge education and social service functions. The association goes on to make the point that disclosures should not be necessary for those who may be part of the wider executive or who may be involved in less direct work on education through their position as elected members. The balance is hard to strike, especially on the last point about who should be aware of the disclosures. Yet it is worth remembering that disclosures relating to those on the list may well be mistaken and subject to appeal. In that case, that information should be treated with the utmost sensitivity. I would be interested to hear the Minister’s views on the sharing of information about those on the list. However, the amendments do not go that far; they merely require the terms of the Bill to match the terms of existing local government legislation.