Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what background checks are carried out when a qualified teacher from (a) outside and (b) inside the EU applies to teach in England.

The School Staffing (England) Regulations 2009, the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2014 and the Non-maintained Special Schools (England) Regulations 2011 require schools to carry out specific checks before they may appoint an individual, including from abroad, to work at the school.

The regulations require schools to check: the identity of the individual; that the person meets any relevant staff qualification requirements; and that the person has a right to work in the UK. In addition, the school must obtain an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Certificate and where relevant a check of the children’s barred list. For those appointed into a teaching position, schools must ensure that the individual is not prohibited by the Secretary of State for Education from carrying out teaching work in England.

Where the person to be appointed has lived outside of the United Kingdom the regulations require further checks to be made and that the school must have regard to statutory guidance issued by the Secretary of State when deciding what those additional checks should be.

The Department’s ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ (KCSIE) statutory guidance makes clear that all schools and colleges have a duty to carry out mandatory safer recruitment checks that help to identify individuals who are not suitable to work with pupils. This guidance also signposts Home Office advice about obtaining criminal record information from overseas police forces and certificates of good conduct.