Monday 30 November 2009

"Checks on parents at school events"

From The Metro:

Parents hoping to accompany their children to school Christmas events are having their criminal records checked in case they are paedophiles, it was claimed.

The Government insisted it was not policy to vet parents attending carol concerts or nativity plays amid reports schools were using the database of people banned from working with children for sex offences and for other reasons...

Graham McArthur, headmaster of Somersham primary school in Cambridgeshire, told the Sunday Times that checks were being carried out on more than 20 parents volunteering to walk his 330 pupils to a carol service at nearby St John's church on December 17...

3 comments:

dearieme said...

Loony - but isn't it rather easy to understand why a Cambridgeshire primary school head might be rather jumpy on the issue?

JuliaM said...

If the lunatics at Ed Balls' asylum get their way, all parents will be checked...

banned said...

"...reports schools were using the database of people banned from working with children for sex offences and for other reasons..."

This reporting is utter garbage, no-one can access 'the database'. An employer, or sponsor, can require an individual to submit his/her details to the CRB who will then ( supposedly but don't bank on it ) check that persons criminal record and supply the employer/sponsor with a certificate listing the details.
It is then up to the employer whether to employ/sponsor the person given the information that they now have.

There is no 'database' for employers/sponsors to check.