.
Under the new Vetting and Barring Scheme which from next month aims to limit the activities of paedophiles, parents who regularly drive children for sports or social clubs, or host foreign exchange students, will have to be vetted or face fines of up to £5,000.
Though it seems that ‘informal arrangements between parents’ will not be covered by the scheme, anyone taking part in activities involving frequent or intensive contact with children or vulnerable adults three times in a month, every month, or once overnight, must register.
While it is true that unpaid volunteers will be exempt from the £64 charge, the new law is nonetheless a direct attack on the army of volunteers that do unsung and sterling work around the UK. Many of them will simply not bother to go through a registration procedure they may feel is overbearing, and so their efforts will be lost to the country.
While I absolutely agree that the safety of children and vulnerable adults must be safeguarded, I think I concur with Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne who said that the government was ‘in danger of creating a world in which we think every adult who approaches children means to do them harm’.
We are also creating a world where our every move is increasingly subject to license and scrutiny. And that I do think is sinister.
.
Under the new Vetting and Barring Scheme which from next month aims to limit the activities of paedophiles, parents who regularly drive children for sports or social clubs, or host foreign exchange students, will have to be vetted or face fines of up to £5,000.
Though it seems that ‘informal arrangements between parents’ will not be covered by the scheme, anyone taking part in activities involving frequent or intensive contact with children or vulnerable adults three times in a month, every month, or once overnight, must register.
While it is true that unpaid volunteers will be exempt from the £64 charge, the new law is nonetheless a direct attack on the army of volunteers that do unsung and sterling work around the UK. Many of them will simply not bother to go through a registration procedure they may feel is overbearing, and so their efforts will be lost to the country.
While I absolutely agree that the safety of children and vulnerable adults must be safeguarded, I think I concur with Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne who said that the government was ‘in danger of creating a world in which we think every adult who approaches children means to do them harm’.
We are also creating a world where our every move is increasingly subject to license and scrutiny. And that I do think is sinister.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment