The Government has published its Protection of Freedoms Bill in which it outlines its plans for the vetting and barring scheme. The scheme was put on hold last year, pending a full review.

The following are the most important proposals

• The merging of the Independent Safeguarding Authority and the Criminal Records Bureau.
• The new barring regime should cover only those who may have regular or close contact with vulnerable groups.
• Barring will apply to both paid and unpaid roles.
• Registration with the ISA will be scrapped and there will be no on-going monitoring.
• Criminal records disclosures should continue to be available to employers and voluntary bodies but should be revised to become portable from one job to another. This will be achieved through the introduction of a system which allows for continuous updating.
• The new regime should retain current arrangements for referrals to the state barring body (currently the ISA) by employers and certain regulatory bodies, in circumstances where individuals have demonstrated a risk of harm to children or vulnerable adults.
• The new system will retain two offences; it will continue to be an offence for a barred person to work with vulnerable groups in regulated activity roles.  It will also be an offence for an employer or voluntary organisation knowingly to employ a barred person in a regulated activity role.

For more information the following links might be of interest "Vetting & Barring Scheme Remodelling Review – Report and Recommendations" (February 2011) is available at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/crime/vbs-report.  The Bill itself is available at http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2010-11/protectionoffreedoms.html.  A press release about this development is available at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/media-centre/press-releases/radical-shake-up