Archive for government
Taxi drivers will be eligible for enhanced background checks under new proposals announced today.
Today’s proposals will allow taxi licensing authorities to carry out enhanced criminal records checks on their drivers before they are issued with a licence. Current drivers will get additional checks when they renew their licence.
Under the current regime, only drivers who pick up children or vulnerable adults are automatically eligible for enhanced checks, although some firms do choose to get these extra checks for drivers as a matter of course.
Protecting the public
These proposals standardise the practice and simplify the system giving additional reassurance to women travelling alone and other ...
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The Filkin report – background
In July 2011 there were perceptions that phone hacking at the News of the World was more widespread than had previously been identified, and that the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) may not have investigated these concerns thoroughly. The then Commissioner of the MPS and an Assistant Commissioner resigned.
In July 2011 the then Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson asked me to review the relationships between the MPS and the media. On the 13th of July 2011 the Prime Minister announced a Public Inquiry to be chaired by Lord Justice Leveson into the ‘Culture, Practices and Ethics of the ...
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The Ministry of Justice has issued a press release (here) indicating that they intend to introduce fees for using employment tribunals
Ministry of Justice
Employment tribunal fees to benefit business and taxpayers
14 December 2011
Plans to lower the £84 million cost to the taxpayer, and relieve pressure on businesses, through the introduction of fees for employment tribunals were announced today by Justice Minister Jonathan Djanogly.
Last year, the taxpayer footed the full £84 million bill of running the tribunals, despite the fact that most people will never use the service.
The consultation being launched today puts forward two sets of proposals that will ensure that ...
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Teachers accused of crime are given lifelong anonymity
A Press release issued by the PA on the 17 November 2011 states
Proposals to give lifelong anonymity to teachers accused of committing criminal offences against children at their schools have become law after the Education Act 2011 received Royal Assent.
It means that teachers have become the first group of people in British legal history to be given automatic anonymity when they are accused of a criminal offence.
The anonymity ends only if the teacher is charged with a criminal offence, or a court agrees to an application that it is in the interests of ...
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This article appeared in the Daily Mail (here)
Nearly half the allegations made against teachers are malicious, unsubstantiated or unfounded, according to a Government study.
The Department for Education survey shows that only three per cent of investigations resulted in a police caution or court conviction for the teacher.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb said the research justified Government plans to allow teachers facing potentially career-wrecking allegations to remain anonymous while investigations took place.
But ChildLine founder Esther Rantzen sounded a note of caution yesterday, pointing out that it was often difficult for the ‘cumbersome’ criminal justice system to protect vulnerable children.
The survey looked at ...
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“Workers will have to pay to bring unfair dismissal claims and will not be able to do so unless they have worked for the employer for at least two years, the government has said. Under the plans, applicants will be obliged to pay the costs of an unfair dismissal claim – £250 for lodging a claim and a further £1,000 if the case goes to a hearing – which will only be refunded if the employee wins. The change to double the length of employment needed before a claim can be made will come into affect on 6 April 2012.”
Full ...
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The Home Office has begun to look for a replacement for the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), with a tender for a company to run outsourced disclosure and barring services.
The new service will bring the CRB and ISA together, and is aimed at supporting the implementation of the protection of freedoms bill.
It will involve the receipt and processing of referrals for a barring decision, applications for disclosure, workflow management, customer and registration services, the issuing of certificates, payment services and running a call centre. All of the ...
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The Attorney General has issued the following press release follwing the successful prosecution of the Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd and News Group Newspapers Ltd who were found guilty of contempt of court for publishing potentially prejudicial coverage of a former suspect in the Joanna Yeates murder investigation at the start of this year which had the potential to impede the course of justice.
29 July 2011Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd and News Group Newspapers Ltd have been found guilty of contempt of court for publishing potentially prejudicial coverage of a former suspect in the ...
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The Department for Education Have published new guidelines for Dealing with Allegations of Abuse against Teachers and other Staff – Guidance for Local Authorities, Headteachers, School Staff, Governing Bodies and Proprietors of Independent Schools. These can be accessed here
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This article by Richard Garner first appeared in the Independent here.
Pupils who make malicious accusations against their teachers could face criminal prosecution under new guidance on school discipline issued by the Government.
Figures show that as many as one in four school staff have been accused of wrongdoing, often claims of assault, by pupils during their careers. The new guidance tells headteachers they have the right to exclude either temporarily or permanently any pupil who makes a false allegation. In extreme cases, it adds, they should inform the police if they believe a criminal offence has been committed.
The new policy document ...
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The Department for Education have updated their statutory guidance for dealing with allegations of abuse.
About this guidance
This guidance issued from the Department for Education is statutory. This means recipients (including LEA’s, Schools, Govenors etc, must have regard to it when carrying out duties relating to handling allegations of abuse against teachers and other staff.
What legislation does this guidance relate to?
the Children Act 1989
section 175 of the Education Act 2002 (local authorities, governing bodies of maintained schools and institutions in the further education sector)
section 157 of the Education Act 2002 and the Education ...
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There is comprehensive coverage in the DAILY MAIL’s (11th July) on the Education Minister’s decision to axed Labour’s 600-page guidance on pupil discipline- which they claim confused teachers – and replaced it with just 52 pages.
The new guidance comes as figures from the Department for Education revealed that nearly 1,000 pupils are excluded for abuse or assault every single school day in England’s schools with soaring levels of attacks by pupils as young as five.
Major assaults on staff were found to have reached a five-year high after 44 teachers were rushed to hospital with ...
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The Home Office have announced tougher checks are to be made on known sex offenders
Proposals to introduce tougher checks on known sex offenders have been published today.
Currently, sex offenders are required to notify the police of personal details such as address and national insurance number annually and whenever details change.
But today the government is seeking to extend this, and aims to compel offenders to notify the police:
weekly when they have no fixed abode
when they are living with a child under the age of 18
of passport, bank account and credit card details
They must also tell police about all foreign ...
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This article by Jamie Doward first appeared on the Guardian website (here) on the 29th May, 2011
The watchdog that examines miscarriages of justice is failing innocent people, according to a senior lawyer involved in some of the highest-profile court cases in recent years.
John Cooper QC, honorary visiting professor of law at Cardiff University, questioned whether the criminal cases review commission has sufficient resources and drive to do its job adequately.
Cooper gave advice to Barry George, the man wrongly convicted of the murder of Jill Dando, and represented the families of soldiers killed in ...
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According to reports in the Press the Government intend to reform ACPO. News of this emerged in evidence given to Home Affairs Select Committee. A summary of the changes be found on the Police website are deatailed below.
A new professional policing body will not be a “revamped” Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) as the current process contains “deep flaws”, the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) has been told.
Peter Neyroud, who led the review into police leadership and training, gave evidence today (April 26) to the HASC and said that the recommendation to establish a professional ...
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The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee have stated that anyone suspected or accused of having committed a crime must promptly be given information on his or her procedural rights in an easy-to-understand language, said the Civil Liberties Committee on Thursday, in amendments to a draft law to protect defendants’ rights across the EU. To those who are arrested or questioned at a police station, this information must be given in a written “Letter of Rights”, to which MEPs added inter alia the right to medical care and the ...
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This news item has been extracted from the Guardian Online (here) on the 12th April
The Government has lost its final appeal against giving prisoners the right to vote following a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.
A five-judge panel said the UK must now draw up proposals within six months to end the blanket ban on prisoners voting. The court delivered the ultimatum after upholding its decision last November to award two UK prisoners €5,000 (£4,350) in costs and expenses for their loss of voting rights, which ...
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The Education Secretary has announced a raft of measures to improve school discipline.
These include giving Heads the right to temporarily or permanently exclude pupils who make false allegations, and the ability to press criminal charges.
See Press Reports
Heads given powers to prosecute lying pupils
Button up: pupils should be forced to wear uniform properly
Gove gives heads power to charge pupils
Gove wants heads to have new powers
Education Secretary Michael Gove lays out new rules to empower teachers
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The Protections of Freedom Bill is currently passing through Parliament.
Of particular interest to falsely accused carers and teachers will the Committees scrutiny of plans to reform the CRB system and scale back ISA work to common sense levels.
Further information on the Bill can be obtained here
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The Government have announced that the sex offenders disclosure scheme will operate in all forces in England and Wales by April.
Greater protection for children
Sex offender disclosure scheme will operate in all forces in England and Wales by April.
Children in all 43 police force areas in England and Wales are better protected thanks to the final rollout of the child sex offender disclosure scheme, the Home Secretary has announced.
Under the scheme anyone can ask the police to check whether people who have contact with children pose a risk.
If the individual has convictions for sexual offences against children or ...
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The first major overhaul of the civil justice system in 15 years and reform of controversial ‘no win no fee’ deals were announced by Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke today. The proposals, which have been launched for public consultation, aim to modernise the civil justice system and make it simpler, quicker, cheaper and more effective.
29 March 2011
Mr Clarke said: ‘An effective system of civil justice is one of the cornerstones of a civilised society. Without it businesses couldn’t trade, individuals couldn’t protect their liberties, and government couldn’t be held to account.
‘But with no major ...
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The latest National Statistics on the re-offending of adults released from custody or starting a community sentence in England and just been published. Significantly they show that those convicted of sexual offences against children are the least likely to re-offend.
A FACT spokesman said he is not surprised by these findings, which broadly speaking are borne out by previous research. “One would expect low re-conviction if the co-hort consists of people who s although legally guilty of sexual assaults against children are factually innocent.”
The latest National Statistics on the reoffending of adults released from custody or ...
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This article by Sarah Harris first appeared in the Daily Mail (here) on the 14th March 2011
Excessive vetting checks are deterring volunteers and putting vital community services at risk, it was claimed yesterday.
Despite Coalition pledges to scale back vetting to ‘commonsense levels’, the Criminal Records Bureau is still checking vast numbers of helpers.
In total almost a million checks were made last year, a six-fold increase since the CRB was launched in 2002.
Under scrutiny: Volunteers who provide care for vulnerable groups such as the elderly are subject to a slew of checks
The figures were obtained ...
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The Government have introduced new regulations for children homes. Amongst the areas covered are regulations to do with running way, punishment and the use and non use of physical restraint.
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM TO
THE CHILDREN’S HOMES (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS 2011
2011 No. 583
1. This explanatory memorandum has been prepared by the Department for
Education and is laid before Parliament by Command of Her Majesty.
This memorandum contains information for the Joint Committee on Statutory
Instruments.
2. Purpose of the instrument
2.1 These Regulations amend the Children’s Homes Regulations 2001 (“the 2001
Regulations”). The 2001 Regulations make provision for a wide range of
matters with which registered persons (providers and managers of ...
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Copy of press release issued by the Home Office:
‘The sex offenders’ register has existed since 1997. Since that time it has helped the police to protect the public from these most horrific of crimes.
Requiring serious sexual offenders to sign the register for life – as they do now – has broad support from across this House.
However, the Supreme Court ruled last April that not granting sex offenders the opportunity to seek a review is a breach of their human rights – in particular, the right to a private or family life. These are rights, of ...
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