Child Protection Bill to be amended

Information sharing to be dropped to help bill pass, but extra vetting to stay

News, 15 January 2007

The Scottish Executive is to amend its proposed child protection legislation in an attempt to meet critics of the bureaucracy being created by the protection system.

It is reported in today's Herald that Part 3 of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill, dealing with sharing of child protection information, will be dropped when the bill is debated in the parliament this week. Deputy Minister Robert Brown believes that the provisions threaten to derail the whole measure, which the Executive wants to enact ahead of the May elections.

Although Part 3 flows from the recommendations of the Bichard Report, which followed the Soham murders in 2002 and found that the police and other key agencies had failed to share crucial information about the killer Ian Huntley, it has not been put to public consultation and raises issues of confidentiality of medical consultations and other matters.

Mr Brown hopes that the agencies mentioned in the bill, including police, children's reporters, local councils and those involved in health, care and social services, will share information voluntarily, guided by a code of conduct. Further legislation could be considered as part of a bill to reform the children's hearing system.

However, Mr Brown is determined to keep the additional vetting provisions in the bill, which have been criticised as threatening to get out of control and as putting off potential adult volunteer helpers. He wants to provide clear guidance about what the law requires in order to counter the perception that the measures are disproportionate to the risk.