Debra Shipley: Pioneering legislation

A leading advocate of child protection in the UK says the system is full of loopholes and needs tightening up.

For one thing, private tutors are not covered by the legislation, says the Labour MP Debra Shipley.

Nor are many organisations such as those running sporting activities for children.

Ms Shipley was responsible for the Protection of Children Act 1999, which began putting a framework in place - but believes it does not go far enough.

She said ministers had completely under-estimated the scale and the complexity of the task to be undertaken by the Criminal Records Bureau - now being much criticised for its slowness in providing background checks on those seeking work with children.

No checks

The most high profile of these delays relate to classroom staff - given that the new school term is starting in England and Wales.

But the backlog also affects a wide range of other positions that involve working with children.

Yet many others do not have to be checked at all.

The Protection of Children Act obliged childcare organisations - those providing accommodation, social services or health care to children - to check whether a job applicant was on the Health Department list of people deemed unsuitable to work with children.

Sampling

Ms Shipley said she had asked the Criminal Records Bureau, just before it became operational in March, what checks it would be making to see that such organisations complied.

A decent private tutor might get himself checked - but it's not the decent ones who are the problem, is it?

Debra Shipley MP

She was told no checks were being made.

There would be sampling to see that employers had filled out the forms properly - but not, for example, if they ignored advice not to employ someone.

The MP said a paedophile employer in a care home could have a job applicant vetted, discover they were a risk to children - and give them a job.

The only official check might be on whether the employer had carried out the vetting process.

Not safe

"I'm getting whistleblowers writing to me from all over the country saying checks are not always being done," she said.

The Protection of Children Act also made a huge range of other organisations such as youth clubs, religious organisations and anyone running sporting and leisure activities for children "eligible" to join the checking system.

But Ms Shipley said the problem was they were not required to do so.

The danger was parents might presume their children were safe these days because an organisation had to comply with some legal requirement - when in fact it did not.

In similar vein, it concerns her that private tutors are "eligible" for full police checks - but under no obligation to have them.

Tutors not regulated

When she raised in Parliament the issue of tutors' inviting children into their homes, she said the Home Office minister who replied had said that private tutors were not regulated.

"He completely missed my point," she said.

"A decent private tutor might get himself checked - but it's not the decent ones who are the problem, is it?"

Research carried out in 2000 suggested that half of all abused children knew their abuser through sports or leisure groups such as swimming clubs.

The study by Huddersfield University found that 52% of children were sexually abused in community-based organisations such as sports groups - and also private tuition classes.

Debra Shipley is also campaigning for a single system across not just the UK but the British Isles - the Republic of Ireland has no system of child protection checks except for applicants for fostering and adoption.

But even within the UK there is no coherent system - with the Westminster government still "considering" how best to apply her legislation in Northern Ireland.