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Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (Controlled Activity and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2010

We need to remember that the beauty of ISA registration is that once you become registered, your registration is monitored and you can take it with you wherever you go. If you work in a regulated activity and change jobs a lot or have several different jobs, your ISA registration will work. All you have to do is give your employer or the charity for which you are volunteering your registration. That employer, with your permission, can then check your ISA registration and see that you are not barred from working with children or vulnerable adults. That has to be the ultimate in portability. What we have to do through the consultation that we are launching now is look at what that means for CRB checks. We in government have to tread gently in looking at this. Many employers value the entitlement to have a CRB check. We want to get the balance right. We do not want to create turbulence in the system at a time of change. I value very much the points that the noble Baroness made about that. I see portability being one of the most important aspects of this whole scheme. I would hope that in a few years’ time, the noble Baroness would see the benefits of the scheme going forward in that way. The noble Baronesses, Lady Walmsley and Lady Verma, talked about the importance of a proportionate approach. Before coming in here today, I was thinking that it needs to be proportionate, fair and consistent. But we do have to make it proportionate, which is why we asked Sir Roger Singleton to undertake his check. Drawing the Line is a good name for his report; we needed to look at whether we were drawing a line in the right place, and Sir Roger’s report helped us to do that. It is safe to say that public opinion has moved on significantly since all of us were here for the debates around the Act following on from the Bichard report. His recommendations, which we have accepted in full, are widely supported, and most people accept that activity once a week should be covered by the scheme, as he recommended. Our aim throughout has been to develop an approach that is proportionate, balanced and effective, with the scheme operating in a way that is neither burdensome, bureaucratic or off-putting to potential volunteers, which meets the concerns of parents and families. As for the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, about physical punishment, I am advised that the report will be published very shortly and that we will respond to it as quickly as we possibly can. With regard to whether there is time to act on the recommendations, I am looking forward to having many more months to take forward anything that I may learn from a new report that Sir Roger Singleton might do for us. I am not unduly worried about the timescale. I close by saying that I commend the orders to the Committee. They are very practical and, in some cases, quite minor, but they adhere to the principles of the primary legislation that we adopted some time ago. Motion agreed.