The Bichard Inquiry - Report - Digital Education Resource Archive ...

4.117 € The central body would take a decision on the basis of the information
above and notify the applicant. At that stage, no other employer, individual
or institution would be informed. The applicant would have an opportunity
to appeal against any refusal, either to the Care Standards Tribunal or some
other appropriate independent body.
4.118 € Under this system, employers would still decide whether or not a job
required the postholder to be registered with the central body. If they
decided the postholder did need to be registered, employers would be
aware that the authorities knew of no reason why an applicant should not
be employed to work with children or vulnerable adults. Employers would
also retain the ultimate decision about whether or not to employ someone,
using references and interviews.
4.119 € The decision about the relevance of police intelligence, for the purpose of
determining a person’s suitability for a job, would be taken by the central
body. The police, as now, would be able to advise on any intelligence that
for operational reasons should not, under any circumstances, be revealed
to the job applicant.
Up-to-date information
4.120 € This revised scheme would have other advantages. With the introduction
of the PLX (intelligence-flagging) scheme (see paragraphs 4.32–4.33), it
should be possible to update the list of those registered, to take account of
new intelligence held by any police force. I appreciate that a change in
the law would be required to allow continuous consent for the rechecking
of records.
4.121 € In addition, with the use of some security identification, prospective
employers could check the prospective employee’s status through a
freephone number or secure website. This would be especially helpful
to small employers or parents employing, for example, tutors or sports
coaches (the Inquiry received evidence from sports organisations that
were concerned about the current arrangements). I stress that the response
to a check would only be whether or not an individual was registered.
Licence or card
4.122 € A scheme such as this could go a stage further than a searchable register
and issue a licence or a card.
4.123 € The arguments for including a licence or card are finely balanced. It could
be politically controversial and the prudent employer to whom such a card
was produced would still need to check, either by telephone or online, to
be sure that it was still valid and not a forgery. On the other hand, the card
could include other information including, for example, qualifications in the
case of childcare workers.
4.124 € It is not for me to decide on this issue and I am aware that the DfES, together
with other departments, is considering the best way forward. Certainly, if
it was decided to introduce a card or licence, a photographic card with
biometric details would provide real advantages in checking identification.
The Home Office will also want to give consideration to how a childcare
licence might best co-exist with a national identity card, if this is introduced.
The Bichard Inquiry – National systems and structure – the findings 151