The Independent Safeguarding Authority was a government agency set up under the Safeguarding of Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. The ISA was to hold a database of all those people who work with children and vulnerable adults and determine whether they are suitable.
The scheme involves all bowlers who work with children and vulnerable adults on a regular basis as Bowls is treated as a Regulated Activity (Definition).
The new legislation "Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006" was to be phased in section by section from Autumn, 2009. From 12 October 2009 there would be no "Standard" checks for people working with children or vulnerable adults. All clearances would be at "Enhanced".
The current scheme of CRB clearances through TMG/CRB and BCGBA will continue as at present requiring a clearance at Enhanced Level to comply with the current legislation.
Following a review of the legislation by Roger Singleton ("Drawing the Line") further guidance was provided in December 2009 which the government has accepted and agreed to put into practice. This "relaxed" the criteria which people had to meet to need a CRB check. The "Singleton" criteria are detailed under Regulated Activity Definitions.
In June 2010 the new government announced an independent review of children’s social work and frontline child protection practice under Professor Eileen Munro. Her final report is expected in April 2011. As a result the National Safeguarding Delivery Unit under Sir Roger Singleton has been disbanded.
On 15 June 2010 the present government announced that the registration with the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) would be halted in order allow a review to remodel the scheme back to proportionate, "common sense levels".
However, the new safeguarding regulations introduced in October 2009 continue to apply and any person who is barred from working with children or vulnerable adults will be breaking the law if they or volunteer, or try to volunteer with these groups. An organisation which knowingly employs someone who is barred to work with those groups will also be breaking the law. Additionally there is a legal responsibility on any organisation who "dismisses" a member of staff or volunteer because they have harmed a child or vulnerable adult to report the fact to the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) or its successor in title.
A formal review of the CRB was announced in October 2010 led by Sunita Mason, to re-examine whether the scheme was the most appropriate mechanism to protect children and vulnerable people (in addition a separate review of the VBS was announced). The Home Secretary declared that the government wanted to ensure that whilst the protection of children and vulnerable adults must be paramount, arrangements are proportionate and support a trusting, caring society where well meaning people are encouraged rather than deterred. The Mason review (to be conducted in 2 phases) will evaluate the scope of the scheme’s coverage; the most appropriate function, rôle and structures of any relevant safeguarding bodies and appropriate governance arrangements; and recommend what, if any, scheme is needed in the future, taking into account how to raise awareness and understanding of risk and responsibility for safeguarding in society more generally. Phase 1 of the Mason review was announced on 11 February 2011. Amongst the recommendations were that the CRBs will only be carried out for those who have intensive contact with children and provisions to make CRBs Transferable (Portable) for people carrying out similar roles for different "employers".
On the same date, details were released of the recommendations of the review of the Vetting and Barring Scheme, amongst which was the proposed merger of the VBS and ISA with new responsibilities.
The Protection of Freedoms Bill is currently going through Parliament and contains some of the Mason review recommendations. Implementation (if approved by Parliament) is expected sometime from November 2012 onwards, subject to Parliamentary timetabling.
The Protection of Freedoms Bill provisions that relate to the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) and the Criminal Records Regime include (CRR):
The provisions in the Protection of Freedoms Bill also mean that the services of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) will be merged and a single, new Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) created in place of the previous two organisations. The new organisation will provide a barring and criminal records disclosure service and will be called the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
The government is expected to redfine and give guidance on the extent of "regulated activity" as proposed under the new Bill as it seeks to reduce the number of posts which will necessitate a CRB.
Once clarification of the recommendations regarding CRBs and the VBS and its impact on sport is known revised guidelines for those in the Family of Bowls will be issued on this web-site. Until then the advice from the bodies providing the "umbrella' administration for CRB clearances is to continue as at present, applying the "Singleton" criteria.
Given that the majority of people requiring CRBs at Enhanced Level have intensive contact with children and /or vulnerable adults, at this present moment in time there is expected to be little impact on those in the Family of Bowls.
From July 2010 a new application form was being introduced for CRB clearances and did allowed for ISA registration (now suspended). The section on the new form dealing with ISA registration is to be ignored (ie not completed) until a further decision is made by the present government as to whether ISA registration (in any form) will proceed.
You can obtain more information to find out if you need a CRB Clearance and how to obtain one on the Criminal Record Bureau Checks page.
Applications should only be made for those persons who actually need a CRB, not those who only think they might need one. Clarification can be sought on whether your rôle needs one can be obtained from either TMG or one of the members of the Child Protection Panel.
Details of the CRB Application Prodedure can be found under the Application Procedure.
Those seeking a clearance for Crown Green should contact Mr Dave Collier who will arrange for a form to be send and can provide information as to who can verify documentation.
Flat Green use TMG as their preferred CRB clearance supplier. Federation and Short Mat Codes use the auspices of BCGBA as their umbrella body. Documents can either be verified by TMG or by a recognised (by TMG or BCGBA) verifier. Details of how to find out if there is a verifier in your area by clicking here.
You can obtain the current Government's advice on VBS Guidance here.