Q&A Sir Roger Singleton
last updated:07 Jun 2010
Sir Roger Singleton is Chair of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).
Set up by the Safeguarding of Vulnerable Groups Act of 2006, the ISA helps prevent unsuitable people from working with children and vulnerable adults.
In this GTC interview, Sir Roger covers the essentials of what the organisation does and how it works.
What led you to the ISA?
I retired from Barnardos in 2005 having been Chief Executive for some 20 years. I was invited to advise the Government on who should be statutorily barred from working with children.
I remain passionate about the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults and wanted to bring this to the work of the ISA. The post of ISA Chair was publicly advertised; I applied and was appointed to the post in August 2007.
What led to the ISA being set up?
The Bichard Inquiry recommended the setting up of a registration scheme that would ensure that anyone who works with children or vulnerable adults be checked to ensure they pose no known risk to these groups.
The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act paved the way for the Vetting and Barring Scheme and through this, the creation of the ISA which would have responsibility for making barring decisions and maintaining the barred lists.
The registration scheme would ensure that persons working with these vulnerable groups would be continuously monitored and would provide a clear and straightforward system for all employers and organisations to refer a member of staff (or volunteer) should that person’s behaviour give rise to concerns that they pose a risk of harm to the children or vulnerable adults they are in contact with.
What is the principal function of the ISA board?
ISA’s Board Members have a wide range of expertise, including allegations management, safeguarding, forensic psychiatry and offender management.
The Board apply these skills in two key areas. Firstly, we set the framework for the decision-making process, through which the ISA assesses the level of risk a person who has been referred may pose in the future to the vulnerable.
The ISA Board play an active role in making barring decisions and are responsible for all the barring decisions made by the organisation. The decisions that the Board make about cases are independent and free from government involvement.
Secondly, the Board regularly samples the work of our caseworkers and decision makers, to ensure that the ISA’s decision making processes are fair and consistent.
How is registration being phased in?
From 26 July 2010 ISA Registration goes live and new starters and those who are moving between jobs will be able to apply to the Criminal Records Bureau (who handle the registration and application process) to become ISA Registered.
From 1 November 2010 ISA Registration becomes mandatory for new workers or those moving between jobs that the Government classes as ‘regulated activity’. People must apply for their ISA Registration before starting in their new role and employers will have a legal duty to check that new starters have been registered.
From 1 April 2011 those people already working in regulated activity and who have not moved into a new role may apply for ISA Registration; however these people will not all be required to apply immediately and registration will be phased to give priority to those who have not had a recent CRB Disclosure. 31 July 2015 is the cut off date.
By this time everyone working in regulated activity must be ISA Registered.
Whose responsibility is ISA registration and what do they have to do?
It is the responsibility of the teacher to apply for registration and the employer must not employ anyone who is not registered (subject to the phasing strategy). There is a one-off registration fee of £64. ISA Registration for teachers will be handled in the same way that CRB disclosures are currently dealt with.
Update
Registration with the Vetting and Barring Scheme will be halted to allow the Government to remodel the scheme back to proportionate, common sense levels, it was announced today (15 June 2010).
