Changes to the Vetting and Barring Scheme may not be such bad news

In a recent post on UKVPMs, Jack Wratten of Volunteer Centre Camden said that despite the government intending to scale back the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS), "we [volunteer managers] still have our obligations, which have never changed, to apply a sensible recruitment process, not discriminate unduly against ex-offenders who want to turn their fortunes around, and design roles responsibly to minimise the risk of harm to anyone".

I just wanted to wholeheartedly endorse Jack's comment. Having been around long enough to remember screening volunteer before the advent of the CRB I've thought for a long time that the world is a less safe place now then it was pre-CRB. Why? Because it is easy for organisations to feel they've done their job of screening by carrying out a CRB check. That's why we've seen so many inappropriate checks on volunteers over recent years.

So I don't buy the arguments of people like Martin Narey of Barnardo's that the new government's plans to scale back the VBS will put people at risk. The VBS was only ever going to be good enough until someone found a way round the system, which they eventually would. At best it was a band aid until the next crisis, at worse a further diversion of attention away from robust screening in favour of a high profile, well meaning but ultimately flawed 'look what we did' initiative that came about from a shameful incident in our recent history.

The way we can really strengthen the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults is by proper and thorough screening (from volunteer role design to supervision) not by relying on CRB checks. Readers with an interest in this should check out Linda Graff's excellent resources on the subject of screening employees and volunteers, especially her book "Beyond Police Checks".