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Are the new ISA rules 'disproportionate to risk'?

are the new ISA rules 'disproportionate to risk'?

11 December 2009

Seven main representative organisations for schools and college leaders have written to Ed Balls requesting changes to the vetting and barring scheme stating the new rules are 'bureaucratic and will not guarantee safety'. This is not the first time government has been criticised over the scheme, leading to it considering the complaints in a recent review.

The signatories claim that the requirement for volunteers to register with the ISA mean there will be a reduction in the support from parents and student helpers in schools, help that Head, Julie Robinson, vice-chairman of the Independent Association of Prep Schools, says is genuinely needed.

With the review out imminently it will be interesting to see how the DCSF and the ISA reacts having been on the receiving end of such broad and public criticism. There is no doubt the system needed an over-haul but has the pendulum swung too far and now risks deterring genuine volunteers?

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Mark Blois

Partner and Head of Education

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