Child Protection Bill to be cut again
16 Jan 07
Retrospective checking set to be dropped as election deadline looms
Further threats to the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill passing before the May parliamentary elections have emerged as ministers moved to drop another significant part of the legislation.
Vetting under the bill of people working with children and vulnerable adults is now likely not to apply to those already in post. It had been predicted that up to a quarter of the adult population would have to be cleared under the provisions. Critics claimed that the measure ignored the risk to children from their own family members and friends, often respnsible for cases of abuse.
Yesterday it was reported that Deputy Education Minister Robert Brown has decided to drop Part 3 of the bill, which deals with sharing of child protection information, at the stage 1 debate tomorrow.
Other Liberal Democrats are said to be against the bill in its current form, and the parliament's Education Committee has said that the bill should be considered at stage 2 debate until a full report on how it will work has been put forward. This would put it at risk of missing the 28 March cut-off point before the May elections.
The Executive said it would continue to engage with all interests to achieve successful implementation of the measure.