I had always thought that over-vetting was a peculiarly Anglosaxon disease: it is only England, Australia and America who employ CRB checks ritually for all adults who have contact with children. It seems that vetting is now seeping into Europe, through EU institutions. This email came from a French lady who works with Brussels organisations – and reports that they are now asking for CRB checks. ‘The European Community now ask their suppliers tendering for public contracts to supply a CRB. I had the case a few months ago: to sell eBooks to Bruxelles, surely it is essential to be CRB checked.…

A 20 year old has launched a battle to have information removed from his criminal records – in his case, youthful waywardness and the theft of bikes aged 11. This came up on his CRB check and could prevent him from becoming a teacher. Thousands of people have such incidents in their past – either real misdemeanors as a child, or accusations, or encounters with the police that didn’t proceed to an arrest or prosecution. And all of these people are affected by the enhanced CRB check, which brings up all information on police files – unlike the standard check, which returns…

I just received this email from a trustee of a charity – who wishes to remain anonymous – about the corrosive effect ‘safeguarding’ rules are having on the work of his organisation. Unnecessary proceedures poison the work of the organisation and can absorb scarce resources… “The vetting and barring regime continues to have detrimental effects on the operation of charities. As a trustee I, and others, am faced with re-assuring our staff, officers, and volunteers that the actions they are taking are reasonable in the light of ever increasing fears of the consequences if something goes wrong, especially when volunteers are visiting…

I just received this from a university tutor, a case that ‘shows up the absurdity of the CRB system’. ‘Student out on placement, all going ok, manager finds out CRB check due to expire soon. If not resolved student’s placement will terminate then despite all being happy with her performance to date. So on one day she is fine to be out alone with ‘vulnerable’ people, the next day she is deemed so risky that she cannot even enter the workplace! What nonsense.’ Well said. It is strange how the day somebody’s CRB check expires, all hell breaks loose and everybody panics…