All posts by Safeguarding Matters

TV campaign about vulnerable adult abuse

Health, In the News, Social Care,

South Lanarkshire Council has joinedwith 13 other councils to produce a TV campaign that they hope will offer hope to thousands of Scottish adults who suffer verbal, physical, sexual and financial abuse every day.  It follows research carried out by Mencap, the charity for people with learning disabilities and their families, which found that 90per cent of people with learning disabilities reported being bullied in the last year.

Charity Action on Elder Abuse, recently revealed that property and cash worth nearly £8million, including 31 homes, had been stolen from UK pensioners in just one 12 month period. The figures were generated from 471 calls to the charity’s helpline. Continue reading TV campaign about vulnerable adult abuse →

Reduced CRB regime announced

Education, Employers, Faith, Health, In the News, Justice, Ministerial Announcements, Parliamentary Affairs, Reviews, Social Care, Sport & Leisure, , , , , , ,
Details of the new Criminal Records regime will be announced today as part of the all encompassing Protection of Freedoms Bill.  Points that are likely to emerge  when it is published are:
  •  The need for checks to be drastically reduced to ‘common sense’ levels -now it will only apply to those who have the most close and regular contact with children or vulnerable adults, such as professional childcare workers or teachers.  The total number who will need to undergo background checks will halve to around 4.5million, although who this includes does not appear to have been defined judging from the  interview given by Nick Clegg his morning on BBC.  
  • Continual updating and portability will be enabled so that teachers and care home workers who do require checks will have their records constantly updated.  This is seen as a key benefit and was already planned in by CRB.
  • The content of CRBs will be reviewed  – for instance the changes will also drastically cut the use of ‘soft intelligence’ when examining a person’s history. Unproven allegations will only be placed on a person’s record if a Chief Constable believes they are true.
  • Checks that are unnecessary and which breach an employee’s privacy could be referred to the data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner, and any employer found knowingly to have requested an unlawful check could face fines running to thousands of pounds.  This will prevent the over zealous use of CRBs such as the school in Warrington that would not be allowed into the premises to see their children.
  • the Independent Safeguarding Authority will be merged with the Criminal Records Bureau. Continue reading Reduced CRB regime announced →

New guidance to tackle child trafficking

Children, International Safeguarding, Justice, Social Care, ,

The London Safeguarding Children Board has launched a new set of guidance and tools to help social workers, teachers, police, health workers and other agencies identify and support children who have been trafficked.  These children can be subjected to sexual exploitation, enforced labour or drug dealing, sold or forced to commit crime by the organised gangs or individuals who have brought them into the country or trafficked them between cities within the UK. Continue reading New guidance to tackle child trafficking →

500 referrals to Pilkington unit each month

In the News, Justice, Key Cases, Social Care, Vulnerable Adults,

About 500 people a month are being referred to Leicestershire police’s newly formed specialist adult referral unit.  It was created to ensure vulnerable adults do not slip through the net following criticism after the death of Fiona Pilkington and her daughter in October 2007.  Ms Pilkington killed herself and her daughter Francecca after years of torment from yobs.   Continue reading 500 referrals to Pilkington unit each month →

CRB & ISA to merge into new body

Background to Safeguarding, Education, Faith, Health, In the News, Justice, Key Sectors, Ministerial Announcements, Reviews, Social Care, Sport & Leisure, , , , , , , , ,

An article in the Telegraph pre-empts the announcement about the results of the criminal records regime review by Sunita Mason and the parallel one into the Vetting & Barring Scheme. Headline: “An anti-paedophile vetting scheme that would have involved nine million adults will be ripped up next week in a major reworking of how background checks are conducted.” Continue reading CRB & ISA to merge into new body →

Lords debate exploitation of children

Children, In the News, Justice, Parliamentary Affairs, Sex Offender profiles, , , , ,

The Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Tim Stevens, raised five areas of concern about children being groomed for sexual exploitation. His question in the House of Lords was  what steps are being taken to ensure the safety of children, especially of children in the care of local authorities, from being groomed for sexual exploitation. Continue reading Lords debate exploitation of children →

Munro report criticises Ofsted approach

Education, Health, In the News, Social Care, , , , ,

The interim report on child protection by Eileen Munro has been published today. It signals a new approach which will focus on helping children rather than on regulations, inspections and procedures.  The areas for reform in the interim report include:

RCN challenges ISA

Health, In the News, Key Cases, Social Care, ,

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is supporting three nurses to launch a major test case against the Government in the European Court, following a High Court ruling last year.  The nurses were automatically barred from working by the ISA  following cautions. If successful, the action could mean that the government was liable for significant compensation payouts. Continue reading RCN challenges ISA →

Justice quangos spared cull

Justice, Parliamentary Affairs, Reviews, , , ,

Ministers have withdrawn 18 bodies from the Public Bodies Bill, which contains the list of  192 bodies to be abolished or scrapped and the 118 to be merged.  The Parole Board, the Criminal Cases Review Commission and the Surveillance Commissioners have been withdrawn along with bodies that select judges, draw up sentencing guidelines and investigate miscarriages of justice in England and Wales.

The government amendment of  the Public Bodies Bill followed concerns raised in the House of Lords, after peers expressed fears that the proposed cull could put the independence of the judiciary at risk.  Liberal Democrat peer Lord Goodhart welcomed the change of heart:

“I thought a lot of the proposals in the bill were wrong but I thought this was the worst of them, because it is an absolutely essential part of our constitution now that it should be a role of an independent body to select the judicial appointments,” he said.

BBC news report