The agency which employed supply teacher Amy Gehring - who admitted having sex with a pupil - has said plans for a new "kite mark" scheme to improve standards in the industry would not stop such a case happening again.

No system in the world can ever be absolutely foolproof

Timeplan spokesman

Agencies which supply short-staffed schools with temporary teachers, for a profit, are being invited to apply for a new "quality mark" intended to show they have high standards.

The Department for Education is pushing the scheme as a way of restoring confidence in the supply agency industry, following the Amy Gehring scandal.

But Timeplan, which brought Ms Gehring to the UK from her native Canada, said it would not have prevented her misbehaviour.

Under the new scheme, agencies would have to meet minimum standards on the way they recruit and interview staff, and how they check and manage their staff.

They would also be assessed on how well they related to schools and teachers.

Warning

Ms Gehring was struck off the teaching register in Canada on Wednesday for seven counts of professional misconduct in England, including abusing students.

She had been found not guilty by a court in England of abusing under-age boys, but later admitted having had sex with a 16 year old at another school.

It emerged that Timeplan had continued to employ her even after police and social services had warned it that she posed a risk to children.

A senior manager at Timeplan was sacked and a director resigned as a result of the case.

Timeplan spokesman Barry Hugill said on Thursday that it had "screwed up badly" because of the actions of one man.

Confidence

The Quality Mark will be operated by the industry body, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, in partnership with the department.

The confederation's chief executive, Tim Nicholson, said: "We believe the Quality Mark will give increased confidence to schools, parents and pupils that staff supplied through agencies are recruited properly and have the appropriate support to do a first class job."

The School Standards Minister, Stephen Timms, said it would help to drive up standards for everyone in the sector.

"Schools and teachers deserve high quality agencies and this scheme will help both schools and teachers be more confident about the agencies they use," he said.

Not foolproof

But Mr Hugill said the system the government was advocating was the system always operated by Timeplan - which is not a member of the confederation.

Timeplan's Barry Hugill: "Something we have advocated for years"

"I don't know what anyone could do because what happened here was that one individual made a colossal mistake."

Asked if the new scheme would stop an Amy Gehring in future, he said "it can't be guaranteed".

"No system in the world can ever be absolutely foolproof.

"We have done our best to ensure that we are as close to foolproof as possible."

The scheme would be voluntary - which Timeplan thinks is a shortcoming - but the department thinks market forces will make it work, as schools choose to use only those agencies that are meeting the standards.

Market forces

Mr Timms said: "Head teachers will be able to be discriminating consumers in a competitive market place and choose agencies which offer the highest standards."

But Timeplan says that, such is the shortage of teaching staff, it has not lost any business as a result of the scandal.

One local education authority - Waltham Forest - pulled out of a recruiting trip with the agency to Canada, which has just taken place.

But it has not stopped taking the agency's teachers.

One possible future development will be to involve the inspectorate, Ofsted, as a way of further improving the way agencies operate.

What there will not be is any requirement for agencies to explain how they arrive at the fees they charge - showing how much they keep and how much their teachers are actually paid.

Head teachers have accused the agencies of profiteering, which they deny.

Private matter

A spokesperson for the department said it believed there ought to be "transparency" in the charging process - but it had chosen not to require agencies to publish a breakdown of their fees.

Select's David Rose: Strongly in favour

"That's a matter between agency and client," she said.

Another big agency, Select Education, said it was strongly in favour of regulation and had been involved in talks with the department about the scheme.

Its marketing executive, David Rose, said: "The regulations should cover not only recruitment practice and checks - these are the basic things which must be done.

'Right direction'

"They should also look at the quality of service given in terms of matching the right teacher to the right school, training given to teachers to make sure they are up-to-date, and the professional development of teachers."

The leader of the NASUWT teachers' union, Eamonn O'Kane, said the scheme was "a faltering step in the right direction".

It would not stop schools' paying over the odds for supply teachers but it might offer protection against unsuitable candidates.

And it did not go far enough to tackle inadequate conditions of employment for supply teachers, he added.