Oral Answers to Questions

Bridget Phillipson Excerpts

Monday 27th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Lynne Featherstone]

As I said last Thursday, we do not believe in keeping 1 million innocent people on the database. If someone is arrested for rape and not charged, but the local police believe that they are a danger to public safety, the police may apply to the commissioner to retain their DNA for three years, as the right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) said.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

18. What representations she has received from children’s charities on the provisions of the Protection of Freedoms Bill.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Lynne Featherstone)]

Children’s charities have warmly welcomed the provisions of the Protection of Freedoms Bill. A number of such charities have made representations on specific aspects of the Bill, which we continue to discuss with them.

[Bridget Phillipson]

I do not think that “warmly welcomed” describes many of the representations that I have received from children’s charities. Will the Minister explain why a school will not be told whether a prospective volunteer has been barred from working with children, and why her Government are creating a loophole that the NSPCC says will put children at risk?

[Lynne Featherstone]

There are no loopholes in the Bill. The barring scheme will continue to cover all those in day-to-day, unsupervised contact with children, and those working in supervised positions will still be eligible for Criminal Records Bureau checks.