Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 24 July 2017 to Question 5176, whether those from voluntary sector organisations and those working at the Westway Assistance Centre who are working with children affected by the Grenfell Tower fire are required to undertake Disclosure and Barring Service checks.

It is the responsibility and statutory duty of an employer to check that an individual has been cleared to work in direct contact with children or vulnerable adults. The Westway Assistance Centre has now closed, with many of the services transferred to the Community Assistance Centre at Bard Road. Disclosure and Barring checks are unlikely to apply to the majority of those working at the Community Assistance Centre. However, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council, as part of its volunteer strategy and future plans for the Community Assistance Centre, is encouraging all staff and volunteers to sign up to a voluntary code of conduct including Disclosure and Barring, and suitability, checks.