AGENDA ITEM 8
BOROUGH OF POOLE
COMMUNITY SUPPORT AND EDUCATION SCRUTINY COMMITTEE – 17FEBRUARY 2004
CRIMINAL RECORDS CHECKS FOR EMPLOYEES AND VOLUNTEERS
IN BOROUGH OF POOLE SCHOOLS
REPORT OF THE HEAD OF PERSONNEL AND TRAINING SERVICES
1. PURPOSE
To report to the Learning Overview Group on current arrangements for undertaking criminal records checks for employees and volunteers in Borough of Poole Schools.
2. RECOMMENDATION
2.1 The Learning Overview Group note the report and the current position.
2.2 Refer the report to the Community Support and Education Scrutiny Committee for information.
2.3 Reconsider the report following the publication of Sir Michael Bichard’s report on the
Soham convictions.
3. BACKGROUND
3.1 The Council has been concerned to establish and keep under review effective procedures for the screening of employees working in schools. The Personnel and Training Service provide this service to schools as a core element of our provision. All schools receive this support in the interests of the welfare and safety of children.
3.2 The Criminal Records Bureau was established in accordance with the Police Act 1997 Part V to provide disclosure information for employees and volunteers working with vulnerable adults and children.
3.3 The disclosure service commenced operation in March 2002 and replaced the service provided for school employees and volunteers by Dorset Police.
3.4 The disclosure service brings together in one checking process the information held on the Police National Computer, local police records, the Department for Education and Skills List 99 of those considered unsuitable to work in schools and the Department of Health list of those considered unsuitable to work with vulnerable adults.
3.5 In addition, for teachers, the Personnel and Training Unit do carry out a check of the General Teaching Council (England) register of disciplinary orders issued for teachers.
3.6 In administering the disclosure process the Borough of Poole is obliged to act in accordance with the CRB Code of Practice and relevant legislation.
3.7 The procedures have been kept under regular review and will be reviewed taking account of any recommendations made by the enquiry being chaired by Sir Michael Bichard.
4. SCOPE
4.1 The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exemptions) Order 1986 empowers employers to ask applicant about “spent” convictions in connection with certain types of employment. Most convictions become spent after a defined rehabilitation period. However, for certain types of employment, including working with children, all offences must be declared whether spent or not. Applicants are advised of this fact as part of the recruitment documentation.
5. LEVELS OF CHECKS
The CRB currently offers two levels of check as follows:
5.1 Enhanced Criminal Record Certificate
This includes details of all convictions on record including spent convictions, along with any cautions, reprimands and warnings and bindovers. A check of DfES List 99 and the DoH consultancy list will be undertaken. In addition, the police may choose to release any local information the Chief Constable feels to be relevant to the post or voluntary position applied for.
5.2 Standard Criminal Record Certificate
Contains the same details as the Enhanced certificate with the exception of additional local information.
5.3 Criminal Conviction Certificate
This more basic level of check is not yet available but will cover all employment types and will only contain information on convictions considered unspent.
At present all school employees and volunteers are subject to Enhanced Criminal Record Checks.
5.4 Schools are supported to undertake the disclosure procedure by the Personnel and Training Unit. All disclosure applications for schools are processed by a post holder with the unit who ensures that applications are correctly completed and forwards applications to the Criminal Records Bureau. All applicants are required to provide a number of proofs of identity which should include birth certificate, passport and photo driving licence. They are also required to provide proof of residence at their current address. Originals of documents are checked by the school, with copies provided to the Personnel and Training Unit as an additional check. A monitoring system is in place to ensure that checks are completed. If a positive trace is received the relevant head teacher will be contacted urgently by a personnel officer. All data is handled in accordance with the Criminal Records Bureau Code of Practice and the requirements of the Data Protection Act.
6. ANALYSIS OF CRB CHECKS UNDERTAKEN
6.1 Since the introduction of the Criminal Records Bureau to date the Personnel and Training Unit have processed a total of 1069 enhanced checks for school employees and 964 for school volunteers. Of these, a total of 18 school employee checks were returned with any kind of trace of a criminal record. This is 1.7% of the total checks completed. To date there have been two cases where the nature of the convictions revealed has led the head teacher and governors to consider the employee unsuitable for continued employment.
6.2 In the case of volunteers, a total of 6 positive traces have been received representing 0.6% of the total.
6.3 Since the introduction of the CRB the turn around time for the return of Disclosure Certificates has improved considerably. The current average return period is 15 days, which is consistent with the CRB’s published service standard.
6.4 At present the cost of an Enhanced Certificate is £29.00 for a paid employee. In April 2004 this will rise to £33.00. Currently no charge is made by the Criminal Records Bureau for application from volunteers.
7. CURRENT POLICY AND PROCEDURES
7.1 The Personnel and Training Unit have produced guidance for Head Teachers and Governors relating to disclosure procedures (copy attached at Appendix 1). These procedures emphasis the need for schools to undertake checks with the CRB as part of a range of other checks including the take up of suitable references to ensure an applicants suitability. The Policy and Procedures are subject to regular review and were last reviewed in July 2003.
7.2 New Applicants for posts in schools or those moving between posts will be required to complete a disclosure form unless they posses a valid Disclosure Certificate issued in the last twelve months. Where this disclosure certificate has been issued by another registered body the Personnel and Training Unit will write to the registered body to cross check their records of the disclosure.
7.3 School employees are required as part of their terms and conditions of employment to report any pending prosecutions or convictions that occur during their period of employment.
7.4 The Policy and Procedure will be reviewed taking account of any recommendations made as a result of Sir Michael Bichard’s review.
COLIN HAGUE
HEAD OF PERSONNEL AND TRAINING SERVICES
Contact: TRACY COMPER, PERSONNEL MANAGER (EDUCATION) , PERSONNEL AND TRAINING UNIT
BACKGROUND PAPERS
Criminal Record Checks Procedures relating to posts within the Borough of Poole.
BOROUGH OF POOLE
PERSONNEL AND TRAINING SERVICES
CRIMINAL RECORD CHECKS PROCEDURES
RELATING TO POSTS WITHIN THE BOROUGH OF POOLE
(Revised July 2003)
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 This document sets out the principles, standards and procedures expected by Borough of Poole in undertaking criminal record checks. These are intended to ensure fairness, safety and confidentiality in undertaking criminal record checks and to comply with the requirements of the Criminal Records Bureau.
1.2 Any clarification needed in respect of the application of these procedures can be obtained from Personnel & Training Services.
2. BACKGROUND
2.1 The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) has been established in accordance with the Police Act 1997 Part V to provide the Disclosure Service checking criminal records and other information.
2.2 The Disclosure Service brings together into one checking procedure the information held on the Police National Computer (PNC), local police records, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) List 99 of those considered unsuitable to work with children, and the Department of Health (DoH) list of those considered unsuitable to work with vulnerable adults.
2.3 The Disclosure Service commenced on 11 March 2002 and replaced the service previously provided via Dorset Police.
2.4 In administering the Disclosure Service the Borough of Poole acts in compliance with the CRB Code of Practice, and in accordance with the Borough of Poole documents Policy for Managing Diversity and its Recruitment and Selection Good Practice Guide which set our standards for providing equality of opportunity and fair treatment.
2.5 Further information can be obtained from the CRB website: www.disclosure.co.uk
3. SCOPE
3.1 The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exemptions) Order 1986 empowers employers to ask any applicant about “spent” convictions in connection with certain employment. Most offences become 'spent' after a defined rehabilitation period. However, for certain types of employment all offences must be declared whether 'spent' or not. Applicants for posts with Borough of Poole receive an information sheet on this with the application form.
3.2 Enhanced Disclosures are required for all employees and volunteers where the post has substantial unsupervised access to children and/or other vulnerable groups. There is no exhaustive list of such posts subject to these procedures; some of the relevant posts are:
All employees and volunteers in Schools
Centrally employed teachers and advisory teachers
Educational Psychologists
Learning Support Assistants
Nursery Employees
Social Workers/Assistants
Care Managers/Assistants
Employees in Residential Homes/Day Centres
Resident House Managers
Employees in the Control Centre
Employees in Leisure Centres
Social Services Drivers and Escorts
School Escorts
School Crossing Patrols
Parking Attendants
Volunteers and other employees who have substantial unsupervised access to children or other vulnerable groups.
3.3 Criminal record checking procedures will apply as considered appropriate by the Council. They will apply to all new employees to relevant posts in the Council, employees moving within the Council to such posts who have either not been checked previously or who have not been checked within the last 12 months. Once cleared, employees are not routinely rechecked except for those in Fostering and Adoption posts where regulations require checking every 3 years. Exceptionally, if serious allegations are made against a person already working with children, or previously unrevealed information comes to light, then the individual may be required to be checked.
3.4 If a prospective new employee has received a clear Criminal Disclosure Certificate within the previous twelve months by their current employer, the Council will normally accept the outcome of that check in connection with their appointment with the Borough of Poole. The Line Manager must see the original Disclosure document (not a photocopy) which the applicant received from the CRB, and forward a photocopy to Personnel and Training Services with the notification of appointment form. If the applicant is unable to supply this a fresh Disclosure Application Form must be completed. Additionally the Line Manager should ask the applicant if there have been any convictions since the date of issue of the Disclosure, and should record the answer given, and ask the applicant to sign this record.
3.5 Service Unit Heads are required, in consultation with the Head of Personnel and Training Services, to identify which posts in their service require a criminal record check, and to what level. The requirement for a criminal record check should be included in the person specification for designated posts.
4. CRITERIA
4.1 In determining if there is substantial access to children or other vulnerable groups, consideration should be given to the following criteria.
· Does the position involve one-to one contact?
· Is the position unsupervised?
· Is there regular contact?
· Are the children or other service users vulnerable?
5. LEVELS OF CRB CRIMINAL RECORD CHECKS
5.1 The CRB will offer three levels of checks, as follows:
· High level checks (referred to as Enhanced Criminal Record Certificate - ECRC). These will contain details of all convictions on record including those spent, along with any cautions, reprimands, warnings and bindovers, and whether the applicant is named on the DoH Consultancy Register or the DfES List 99. They may also reveal local information held by the police that they feel to be relevant to the job or voluntary work applied for.
· Standard level checks (referred to as Criminal Record Certificate - CRC). These contain similar details to the ECRC but without the police non-conviction information.
· Basic level checks (referred to as Criminal Conviction Certificate - CCC). This will be available for all types of employment or voluntary service not covered by the higher level checks. A CCC will only contain details of convictions which are considered unspent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. This type of certificate will be issued only to the applicant who will be able to decide whether to show it to an employer. It will not be job specific and may be used more than once. These checks are not yet available.
6. PROCEDURES
6.1 Criminal record checks are initiated after a person has been selected and, where possible, before the person actually takes up appointment. The CRB’s stated standard of service delivery is that enhanced checks will be processed in a maximum of 3 weeks. At present they have not been able to achieve this standard but are working on improving their service. Appointments may be made subject to the outcome of satisfactory criminal record checks.
6.2 In exceptional circumstances if a person is due to commence employment prior to the outcome of these checks, then managers should assess the risk involved and consider what other checks are in place. Advice should be taken from Personnel and Training Services on any possible implications.
6.3 If the following criteria are met you may wish to allow an employee to commence work before clearance has been agreed but not to undertake duties which entail substantial unsupervised access to children or other vulnerable people :
· A full written application form has been received (including Personal History form for Children & Families employees) with no unexplainable gaps in employment history
· Proof of relevant qualifications or membership of professional bodies has been received
· Two satisfactory references have been received, which must include their current/most recent employer
· A Disclosure Application Form has been completed by the individual, proofs of identity provided, and the form has been sent to the CRB
· The individual has been asked by their line manager if they have any convictions which would make them unsuitable for the post, and a satisfactory response has been recorded by the manager