Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (Prescribed Criteria and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2008

That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (Prescribed Criteria and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2008. The draft regulations we are debating today set out the offences that will lead to automatic barring under the new vetting and barring scheme. I thank both the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments and the Merits Committee for their careful consideration of these draft regulations. I have noted their comments on the issue of the name change from the Independent Barring Board to the Independent Safeguarding Authority. Barring decisions under the new scheme will be taken by the new Independent Safeguarding Authority, or ISA, currently referred to in the legislation as the Independent Barring Board. We intend to legislate at an early opportunity to put that change of name into law, an issue that noble Lords raised last time, so that we can make things simpler in the law in future. The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act also provides for automatic barring where the individual has committed one of a set of prescribed offences. I have published an information note for noble Lords to support this debate that explains the offences in these regulations in more detail and explains how the barring processes will work. The ISA will make barring decisions on the cases referred to it, basing its decisions on information gathered from police sources, regulatory bodies and referrals from employers. The ISA will write to individuals whom it proposes to bar, informing them of their right to make representations and, if the bar is confirmed following representations, their right to seek leave to appeal. However, some offences, which are listed in these draft regulations, are so serious that the perpetrator must be barred automatically. Where guilt has been established, in the case of a conviction it has been proved beyond reasonable doubt or, in the case of a caution, the individual has admitted guilt. The offences listed in these regulations are sufficiently serious for the presumption to be made that the individual poses a risk of harm. We consulted experts and took account of offences which lead to an automatic bar on List 99 or disqualification order. In the most serious cases, such as a serious sexual offence with violence, there will be no prospect of mitigating circumstances that might cause the ISA to overturn the bar and the individual will not be able to make representations against it. In other cases, we accept the possibility that there may be mitigating circumstances, and the draft regulations allow representations to the ISA. Where an individual has been barred, they will have the right to seek permission for a review after a set period has elapsed. The information note gives more detail on that aspect of the scheme. While these regulations are mainly about the offences, they contain two other provisions—at regulation 7, about independent schools, and at regulation 8, about disqualification orders from working with children. The purpose of regulation 7 is to give independent schools the same duty to refer cases to the ISA that maintained schools have, under the transitory provisions order that your Lordships approved last month. Regulation 8’s purpose is that if a court imposes a disqualification order after ISA decision-making has started, the ISA must automatically bar the person instead of the Secretary of State barring them and then returning the case to ISA. That will create a more streamlined procedure. On the list of offences itself; automatic barring is a serious matter and Parliament, quite rightly, required in the Act that the regulations establishing offences which lead to automatic barring should be by affirmative resolution. However, this is not the first time that these offences have been subject to public scrutiny and it may be helpful if I outline the steps that we have gone through. While the Bill was proceeding through Parliament, we published an information note setting out how we intended to exercise the power. In summer 2007, we conducted a full public consultation on the list of offences. The Government’s response was published in November 2007 and there was widespread support for the proposals. In March, Parliament debated and approved the transitional version of these regulations. That version contained only the ““no representations”” offences as its purpose is to determine which currently barred individuals are to be placed on the new barred lists with no right to make representations. However, in order that Parliament could see the whole picture, we produced another information note for those debates stating how we intended to use the powers for automatic barring. Finally, last month we debated an order that will allow the ISA to take barring decisions on referrals to the current schemes, together with a foreign offences order allowing us to include equivalent offences in these regulations. Noble Lords will see that we have indeed included such foreign offences here, as I undertook to do in that debate, which was again supported with a further information note on our intentions for the automatic barring offences. Automatic barring in the children’s workforce has operated since February 2007 under the List 99 arrangements. These include all the offences in current List 99 regulations so noble Lords may be assured that there will be no diminution in safeguarding from approving these new arrangements. When the new scheme comes into force, which we intend should be from October 2009, it will cover the wider range of workforces specified in the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act. Before then, however, the ISA will make the decisions to bar people on referral to the existing barred lists under the terms of the transitory provisions order that we debated last month. We intend that the draft regulations will come into force at the same time as the transitional ISA decision-making phase, subject to parliamentary approval, on 20 January 2009. The effect of these regulations will continue in force once the transitional period is over and the new scheme is operational. Nothing is more important than safeguarding children and vulnerable adults from those who pose a serious risk of harm. It is a responsibility that we all share. The Government are determined to do everything they can to play their part in this work. I commend the regulations to the Committee.