Who will make barring decisions, what will be the process, will decisions be fair and will information be handled sensitively?
Are there certain offences and convictions that will lead to people being barred automatically?
Will employers be notified if a person is being considered for listing and how will they be notified if they are barred?
Will there be a right of appeal for someone who is listed?
Will decisions about listing undermine regulatory organisations' disciplinary procedures?
Who will make barring decisions? What will the process be? Will decisions be fair? And will information be handled sensitively?
The lists of those who are barred from working with children and protected adults will be managed by Disclosure Scotland as agency of the Scottish Government. Disclosure Scotland will continue to deliver the other disclosure services and the new range of PVG Scheme membership services and barring function. The Protection Unit within Disclosure Scotland will collect and assess information to enable expert, fair and consistent decisions about unsuitability to be made on behalf of Scottish Ministers.
The intention is to make the decision making process as transparent as possible, while protecting the confidentiality of individual cases. Making decisions about unsuitability lies at the heart of the PVG Scheme and is hugely important. The Scottish Government is undertaking a considerable amount of work to ensure the decision making process is evidence based, proportionate and defensible. This includes working with experts in the field of risk assessment, consulting with stakeholders through an expert reference group and on ongoing discussion with the Independent Safeguarding Authority who provides the equivalent function for the rest of the UK.
It is important to remember that this is not starting from scratch. The Scottish Government has considerable experience of operating the determination process for the Disqualified from Working with Children List under the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003.
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Are there certain offences and convictions that will lead to people being barred automatically?
The Scottish Government has identified a small number of the most serious offences, including murder of a child and any form of non consensual sexual penetration, that will lead to automatic listing on each of the children's and adults' lists. The Scottish Government considers that anyone convicted of one of these offences on indictment is unsuitable to work with vulnerable groups in any circumstances.
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Will employers be notified if a person is being considered for listing and how will they be notified if they are barred?
Yes. As well as notifying the individual, Disclosure Scotland will notify all employers and other organisations (for example regulatory organisations), known to have an interest in the individual if a person is placed under consideration for listing and again at the end of that consideration if they are either barred or returned to full membership of the PVG Scheme.
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Will there be a right of appeal for someone who is listed?
If a person is subject to automatic listing, there is no right of appeal against listing. This is because automatic listing only applies in circumstances where there is no conceivable reason why the individual should not be listed.
Anyone who is listed, following consideration for listing, will have three months to appeal the decision, although a Sheriff can take the decision to extend this deadline. Appeals will be heard in the Sheriff Courts. Information on the appeals process will be made available as part of guidance on the operation of the PVG Scheme.
In addition, any listed individuals will be able to apply to be removed from the list(s) if they can demonstrate a change in their circumstances (for example, a successful appeal against a conviction, a completed sentence or rehabilitation programme). In addition, they will be able to apply to Scottish Ministers for removal from the list(s) after ten years, even if their circumstances have not changed. When a listed person applies for removal from the list a full re-consideration of their case will be carried out including consideration of any new information that has come to light since the original listing and any representations the individual wishes to make. They will only be removed from the list if it is considered that they are no longer unsuitable to do that type of work. The same thresholds apply for removal from the list as apply for inclusion on the list in the first place.
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Will decisions about listing undermine regulatory organisations' disciplinary procedures?
Listing decisions, which will be made by Disclosure Scotland, on behalf of Scottish Ministers, are concerned exclusively with whether the individual is unsuitable to carry out regulated work with vulnerable groups. An individual who is barred cannot carry out any type of regulated work with either children, and/or, protected adults.
Registration with a professional or regulatory body is about more than unsuitability to work with vulnerable groups. It is also about the individual's competency to practice and their ability to uphold the standards and values of the profession. It is therefore entirely possible that an individual might be considered not unsuitable for regulated work and so able to join the PVG scheme, but not be considered a suitable person to be registered in a particular field of practice.
In some cases, barring will preclude individuals becoming members of a professional or regulatory body. For example someone barred from working with children could not be a teacher. However there may be circumstances where an individual barred from one type of regulated work could continue to practice in the other type of regulated work but possibly have practice conditions imposed. That will be a decision for the regulatory body.
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