Debates between Baroness Featherstone and Baroness Chapman of Darlington during the 2010-2015 Parliament

Protection of Freedoms Bill

Debate between Baroness Featherstone and Baroness Chapman of Darlington
Tuesday 11th October 2011

(13 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Baroness Featherstone Portrait Lynne Featherstone
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I shall come on to that because it is a complicated matter to discuss—there is “regulated”, “unregulated”, “supervised”, “unsupervised” and so on. Obviously, if an activity is unsupervised, it is regulated, so I shall come on to the issues of supervision. In an establishment such as a school, it will be difficult to persuade authorities not to pursue enhanced CRB checks. The hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Diana Johnson) argued that if a referral to the ISA had not been referred to the police, the barring information would not be on the certificate. It would be helpful if I could progress with my remarks in that regard. We disagreed in Committee and I have no doubt that we will end up disagreeing today as well, but I want to assure the House that we are acting with the best of intentions and drawing the line where we believe appropriate.

As I said, bars from working with children or vulnerable groups apply to regulated activity, so it does not make sense—

Baroness Featherstone Portrait Lynne Featherstone
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It would be helpful if I could explain the position.

Baroness Chapman of Darlington Portrait Mrs Chapman
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We have lots of time.

Baroness Chapman of Darlington Portrait Mrs Chapman
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It should not come as a shock to the Minister to learn that parents do not want people who are barred from working with children to be anywhere near their children, regardless of whether they are supervised. That is our problem with the Government’s position.