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Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill [Lords]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time. Throughout our debates Members on all sides of the House, and in the other place, have given tremendous recognition to the importance of the measures in the Bill. Ensuring that children and vulnerable adults are safeguarded from harm is at the heart of the responsibilities of both Government and Parliament. It is a responsibility shared with employers, parents, families, and the work forces that support children and vulnerable adults. I am therefore grateful—and I know that I speak for the Under-Secretary of State for Education and Skills, my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester (Mr. Dhanda)—for the fact that our debates at all stages of the Bill’s passage have been constructive and valuable, and above all have demonstrated the commitment on both sides of the House to better safeguarding for children and vulnerable adults. That has been reflected in the significant degree of consensus in both Houses. The Bill has rightly received the close scrutiny that it deserves and has greatly benefited from constructive probing by all who have participated. I thank you and your colleagues, Madam Deputy Speaker. I thank our Chairmen in Committee, the hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup (Derek Conway) and my hon. Friend the. Member for Carlisle (Mr. Martlew), for their generous but firm management of our deliberations. I thank the hon. Members for Basingstoke (Mrs. Miller) and for Mid-Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke), who ably led from the Opposition Benches and the hon. Members for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) and for Brent, East (Sarah Teather). I thank the Minister responsible for children and families, my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester, who, as I am sure Members will agree, has done a sterling job on his first Bill—not the easiest to be asked to steer through. I thank the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, North (Joan Ryan), and all my hon. Friends who have taken an active part in the debate. I also thank the Clerks and our officials, who have supported us through every stage of this difficult process. The Government are committed to ensuring that safeguarding vulnerable groups remains a top priority. Staying safe is one of the five outcomes in the cross-Government ““Every Child Matters”” programme, and seeks to ensure that safeguarding becomes everyone’s business across the range of children’s services. The Bill is part of that programme. It will also greatly improve the safeguarding of adults in the most vulnerable circumstances. The ““dignity in care”” campaign that I shall launch shortly will aim to create a care system in which there is zero tolerance of abuse and disrespect of older people, but the Bill extends much more widely than that, covering a full spectrum of services in which abuse may occur. Let me further remind Members of the significance of the Bill. It fully implements recommendation 19 of the Bichard report. I am sure that every Member will recall the tragic circumstances, the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, that led to that inquiry and shocked the nation. In response to the inquiry, we have established a wide-ranging and ambitious programme of work to address the systemic failures that it identified. The House has been updated regularly on progress. The Bill puts in place a major element of the response and delivers on important commitments given by my right hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, West (Ruth Kelly) in January, when she was Secretary of State for Education and Skills. As I am sure Members will agree, discharging these important commitments has not always been an easy task. It covers a difficult and complex area, and we have been asked to reconcile very different imperatives. We are determined to have the most robust system of vetting and barring possible; at the same time, it must be simple and practical for employers to implement, or it will get in the way of recruitment. It also needs to be fair, with robust procedures. As the hon. Member for Basingstoke said, our extended debates about such issues as ““frequency”” have helped to ensure that the scheme is effectively constituted. I am genuinely grateful for the constructive approach throughout the House to resolving the challenges. I believe that the Bill now provides for a tough, well-balanced and effective vetting and barring scheme, and I commend it to the House.