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Schools fear fiasco in vetting teachers

Ben Russell,Political Correspondent
Thursday 01 May 2003 00:00 BST
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Headteachers say last autumn's criminal records vetting fiasco, which left thousands of children without a teacher, is unresolved.

Schools across the country were still waiting for checks on staff that should have been completed last September David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said yesterday.

He warned of continued problems with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) as Liberal Democrats outlined a catalogue of failures in the creation of the £400m agency and called for ministers and senior officials to resign.

But a Home Office spokesman insisted the CRB's performance had improved sharply. He said an average 40,000 checks were being made each week, compared with 24,500 last August, adding: "The CRB has made some significant improvements in recent months and is in a stable position now."

This was disputed by Paul Burstow, a Liberal Democrat frontbencher, who claimed ministers were now renegotiating their contract with Capita, the private-sector contractor taken on to set up and operate the CRB's computer system.

Mr Burstow said: "Fatal flaws in the system that led to last year's teacher checking fiasco are still unresolved," Mr Hart said: "I'm not confident that Capita have sorted this out yet. I can't be confident because I am still being told by heads in May 2003 that they are still waiting for clearance from autumn 2002."

Mr Burstow added that carers working in homes since before 1 April 2002 would not be vetted until October 2004. "These are staff who have day-to-day intimate contact with vulnerable people."

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