House of Commons - Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill (Second Reading)

Brooke raises concerns that some of the measures in the Bill are overly complex.

Annette Brooke, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Children and the Family

Ms. Brooke said, 'I welcome the Bill, and I should like to place on record the Liberal Democrats' broad support for the measures that it proposes. It is vital that we increase the protection of the most vulnerable members of our society. I should declare that I have not had the advantage of seeing the embargoed Ofsted report, so I shall be unable to comment on it in my speech.

She continued, 'I am worried about the complexity of the new scheme, and about how the details can be conveyed to people. Communication will require much more than information packs and assurances that information is available; there will have to be a great deal of signposting, and a strategy for spreading the information among those who need it. Training, too, will be necessary. I am also worried about the costs - have they been fully assessed? - And about whether the CRB will be able to take on all its new functions.

'Finally, I am worried about the lack of positive measures in the Bill. The Minister may say that it focuses on vetting and barring arrangements, but I believe that it should include further measures to guarantee wider outcomes. The Minister said that safety and protection would depend on robust judgments, sound processes and competent personal responses, but we need a general approach that will improve the current position. We need a package of measures alongside the Bill.'

She concluded, 'We must accept that children and vulnerable adults will always experience occasional contact with those who have offended in some way. As others have pointed out, it will always be difficult to check workers coming here from abroad. Indeed, it will probably be impossible to check them to the same extent. That is why we need an overall embracing of the principles that we all want a safer society and we need people to react in certain ways, always thinking about the need to protect vulnerable children and adults.

'I therefore ask the Minister to consider what else can be put in place alongside the Bill, so that it is not, as the hon. Member for Basingstoke put it, another series of measures that will not be implemented properly. To make it work - and I want it to work - we need something else: we need the Government to give strong leadership.'

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