Child protection laws forcing checks on workers have been delayed

Part of Scotland's child protection law, which was due to come into force in January, has been deferred to April.

This will allow voluntary groups time to get to grips with the legislation.

From April it will become a criminal offence to employ people to work with children if they have been disqualified from doing so.

The new regulations form part of the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act, which goes live on 10 January.

Guidance documents

The decision for the three-month deferment was taken in the last week, following hastily arranged Scottish Executive meetings with voluntary groups and legal officials.

Holyrood's education committee earlier heard groups faced having less than a week to understand the laws because guidance documents were only ready to be sent out last Thursday, just before festive public holidays.

Deputy Education Minister Euan Robson told the committee the decision was taken because of the worries voiced by the voluntary sector and MSPs.

Voluntary groups said there was widespread confusion about who needed to be checked.