Active Choices Newsletter 1st March 2011

Welcome to our first Active Choices Newsletter. Every month we will be sending a newsletter out to you. This is following feedback from our Service User Survey results that I glad to report were very positive. I have also enclosed a letter with the breakdown of the findings.

We were very grateful for your suggestions and comments and will act upon these to provide you with the best service possible.

 I am looking to include some features from our service users and their families or carers in our forthcoming issues of our newsletter. Please let me know if anyone would like to contribute. The features can be about anything that you would like to share- have you particularly enjoyed an activity and would like to write about it?, have you any concerns regarding the cut backs that the government are implementing?, do you want write about any problems that you feel you have?, do you have a funny story to share? Please let me have your articles and if you feel you need support to write one let me know and I will visit you to help and we can put it down on paper together.

 Footie News:

The Connect Red Stars are definitely going up in the world with a successful rematch against Skelmersdale resulting in a victory. Well done lads!

 We are all looking forward to the presentation evening that is taking place on Monday 7th March at the Quayside. The Mayoress will be there to present the awards and I'm sure a fun evening will be had by all. Last year the evening proved to be a great success.

 Big Day Out at the Blackpool Tower Circus

What a great show! We all met up at Wetherspoons in Runcorn and travelled to Blackpool. At the start of the day the weather was dull and overcast but as we travelled towards Blackpool it brightened up and everyone was in high spirits. Never has 'I will survive' been sang with such enthusiasm!

We all had lunch at a little cafe near the Tower and then it was time to go see the show. We took our seats in the old auditorium and waited with bated breath. When the clowns appeared everyone thought they were hilarious and the show just got better with acrobats, rope gymnastics, high wire performers and loads more.

Towards the end of the show we all joined in a competition between the boys and the girls to see who was best at singing and dancing to YMCA. Sorry boys, the girls were voted the best so you better practice for next time!

After the show we had a talk about where to go for our tea and of course, being in Blackpool, fish and chips were the most popular choice. Once we had had our fill of the delicious food it was time to stroll back to the cars in the lovely late afternoon sun and travel home.

We arrived back home weary but very happy after a fun, entertaining day with our friends.

Each month I will be entering an article into our newsletter about relevant up to date issues that may have an effect all of us.

This first article is about the changes to the Vetting and Barring Scheme and Criminal Records Regime Review and the effect, if any, it may have on your service. 

Vetting and Barring

The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, has unveiled a new scaled back employment vetting scheme and fundamental reform of criminal records check.

He said 'We inherited a messy criminal records regime that developed piecemeal and defied common sense. Our reviews concluded that the systems were not proportionate and needed to be less bureaucratic. They will now be scaled back to sensible levels whilst at the same time protecting vulnerable people.'

Before coming to the decision reports were submitted by the Home Office Minister, the Children's Minister and the Care Services Minister were consulted who both agreed that the process should be less intimidating.

Barring schemes have been in use since 1926 whereby adults that were thought to or had posed a risk to vulnerable groups where barred from working within those areas.

Many thought the VBS, while well intentioned, was a disproportionate response to the risk posed by a small minority of people who wished to commit harm to vulnerable people and in June 2010 Ministers announced that the planned implementation of the VBS was to be halted, pending a thorough review.

The review report has now been published and its recommendations are set out below:

Summary of the VBS remodelling review recommendations:

a) A state body should continue to provide a barring function to help employers protect those at risk from people who seek to do them harm via work or volunteering roles.

b) The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) should be merged and a single Non-Departmental Public Body or Agency created to provide a barring and criminal records disclosure service.

c) The new barring regime should cover only those who may have regular or close contact with vulnerable groups.

d) Barring should continue to apply to both paid and unpaid roles.

e) Automatic barring should apply for those serious offences which provide a clear and direct indication of risk.

f) Registration should be scrapped - there should be no requirement for people to register with the scheme and there will be no ongoing monitoring.

g) The information used by the state barring body (currently the ISA) to make a barring decision should be serious in nature.

h) Criminal records disclosures should continue to be available to employers and voluntary bodies but should be revised to become portable through the introduction of a system which allows for continuous updating.

i) The new regime should retain current arrangements for referrals to the state barring body (currently the ISA) by employers and certain regulatory bodies, in circumstances where individuals havedemonstrated a risk of harm to children or vulnerable adults.

j) The current appeals arrangements should be retained.

k) The state barring body should be given a power to vary review periods in appropriate circumstances.

l) Services relating to criminal records disclosure and barring provisions should be self-financing. We recommend the Government consults on raising the cost of the criminal records disclosure fee to cover the costs incurred.

m) The new system will retain two offences; it will continue to be an offence for a barred person to work with vulnerable groups in regulated activity roles. It will also be an offence for an employer or voluntary organisation knowingly to employ a barred person in a regulated activity role.

n) Finally, the Government should raise awareness of safeguarding issues and should widely promote the part everyone has to play in ensuring proper safeguarding amongst employers, volunteer organisations, families and the wider community.

The government expect the changes to be in place by early 2012 and although it will place more emphasis on the responsibilty of the employer than the state it will not have an effect on the way we screen our employees at Active Choices as they continue to work closely with our service users. However certain people who do not work closely with vulnerable groups but still have contact in their working/volunteering lives will be exempt from police checking.

The Terms of Reference along with the full VBS review report, can be downloaded using the following site:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime/vetting-barring-scheme/

Carla Paterson

Service Manager, Active Choices Care Ltd.

Well there is our first newsletter. If you have any suggestions about it let me know and I will look forward to seeing any ideas and articles that you would like to give to me. Remember this is for all of us to have a input in so that all our voices can be heard.

Many Thanks

Carla