Probation workers 'not being clearly vetted for child abuse'
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Your support makes all the difference.Thousands of probation staff working with large numbers of teenage offenders are not being correctly vetted for child abuse, it was claimed last night.
The Probation Service took on 750 new trainees last summer without certificates from the Criminal Records Bureau, which uses police records to ensure that those who work with children and teenagers have no history of abuse.
The service will take on a similar number of trainees this year and is also trying to fill about 1,000 vacancies. Probation chiefs are having to rely on older, less thorough methods of checking new employees, carried out by local police forces and the Department of Health and Department of Education.
The Liverpool-based bureau has already suffered a crisis in providing adequate vetting for teachers, school governors, nurses and care workers. Last November, checks on 300,000 nursing and care staff were postponed because the bureau could not meet its deadlines. Planned checks on school governors were also postponed and school volunteers were allowed to be hired at the discretion of headteachers.
Some of the bureau's work has had to be sub-contracted to India. The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, has sent in a "hit squad" led by a businessman, Patrick Carter, to investigate the crisis. It is expected to report early next year.
The Home Office has dismissed claims made by the probation officers' union, the National Association of Probation Officers, that new probation staff were not being properly vetted. A spokesman said further vetting could be carried out by the CRB later after basic record checks. The Home Office was "not aware there is a problem", he said.
Capita, the firm that runs the bureau under a public-private partnership with the Home Office, is being paid around £400m for its work in a private finance initiative joint venture costing a total of £940m.
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