Certificates of Good Conduct

The request was partially successful.

Dear Slough Borough Council,
This question relates to potential employees and volunteers who seek to engage in providing services to children and vulnerable adults.

1. Please provide your policy and practice guidance on vetting and debarring including provisions concerning certificates of good conduct (CGC).

2. CGCs.

What is the legal basis for requesting them?

Who applies and pays for them? In relation to some countries individuals can give others a power of attorney.

A government-commissioned report suggests that for some countries CGC information may be unreliable. What steps do you take to verify it if the person to whom it relates challenges it?

How do you ensure that CGCs obtained from overseas are consistent with the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and dont include, for example, convictions for matters that would not be a crime in the UK or would be considered spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act?

3. I refer to Article 8 of the Human Rights Act and the recent case of (R(T) v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester and Others [2013] EWCA) concerning the right to privacy. What steps have you taken or do you intend to take and to what effect to amend your policies concerning vetting and debarring and certificates of good conduct in light of this ruling?

4. Your Local Authority is known to employ a significant number of social workers who trained outside of the UK (34: information provided before its demise by the General Social Care Council) and came to you as foreign nationals; others may have taken up British citizenship since then. Where such persons take leave of absence(e.g. maternity leave, extended sick leave)for a period of time what steps are taken to ascertain whether they have left the UK perhaps to return to their home country and what steps are taken to require such persons to provide a police check/certificate of good conduct to cover the period for which they have left the UK?

5. How many prospective volunteers have been required to provide a certificate of good conduct for the last 12 month period for which information is available and in how many such cases did disclosures on the certificate contribute to them not taking up such a role?

Yours faithfully,

Charles Bell

FOI, Slough Borough Council

Thank you for your email.

 

Providing excellent customer services is one of the council’s key
priorities.

 

Your enquiry will now be forwarded to the relevant department to answer.

 

We will reply fully to all written enquiries within 10 working days
although we aim to reply to emails sooner than this.

 

If your enquiry is a Freedom of Information request, the council may take
up to 20 working days to respond.

 

 

If you do not receive a satisfactory response by this time you can contact
our complaints department. More details here:

[1]http://www.slough.gov.uk/council/complai...

 

'Disclaimer: You should be aware that all e-mails received and sent by
this Council are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and
therefore may be disclosed to a third party. (The information contained in
this message or any of its attachments may be privileged and confidential
and intended for the exclusive use of the addressee).  The views expressed
may not be official policy but the personal views of the originator.  If
you are not the addressee any disclosure, reproduction, distribution,
other dissemination or use of this communication is strictly prohibited. 
If you received this message in error please return it to the originator
and confirm that you have deleted all copies of it. 
All messages sent by this organisation are checked for viruses using the
latest antivirus products.  This does not guarantee a virus has not been
transmitted.   Please therefore ensure that you take your own precautions
for the detection and eradication of viruses.'

References

Visible links
1. http://www.slough.gov.uk/council/complai...
http://www.slough.gov.uk/council/complai...

Ward Jane, Slough Borough Council

This is to acknowledge receipt of your FOI request which is receiving attention

-----Original Message-----
From: Charles Bell [mailto:[FOI #156095 email]]
Sent: 05 April 2013 22:52
To: _Freedom of Information
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Certificates of Good Conduct

Dear Slough Borough Council,
This question relates to potential employees and volunteers who
seek to engage in providing services to children and vulnerable
adults.

1. Please provide your policy and practice guidance on vetting and
debarring including provisions concerning certificates of good
conduct (CGC).

2. CGCs.

What is the legal basis for requesting them?

Who applies and pays for them? In relation to some countries
individuals can give others a power of attorney.

A government-commissioned report suggests that for some countries
CGC information may be unreliable. What steps do you take to verify
it if the person to whom it relates challenges it?

How do you ensure that CGCs obtained from overseas are consistent
with the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and dont
include, for example, convictions for matters that would not be a
crime in the UK or would be considered spent under the
Rehabilitation of Offenders Act?

3. I refer to Article 8 of the Human Rights Act and the recent case
of (R(T) v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester and Others [2013]
EWCA) concerning the right to privacy. What steps have you taken or
do you intend to take and to what effect to amend your policies
concerning vetting and debarring and certificates of good conduct
in light of this ruling?

4. Your Local Authority is known to employ a significant number of
social workers who trained outside of the UK (34: information
provided before its demise by the General Social Care Council) and
came to you as foreign nationals; others may have taken up British
citizenship since then. Where such persons take leave of
absence(e.g. maternity leave, extended sick leave)for a period of
time what steps are taken to ascertain whether they have left the
UK perhaps to return to their home country and what steps are taken
to require such persons to provide a police check/certificate of
good conduct to cover the period for which they have left the UK?

5. How many prospective volunteers have been required to provide a
certificate of good conduct for the last 12 month period for which
information is available and in how many such cases did disclosures
on the certificate contribute to them not taking up such a role?

Yours faithfully,

Charles Bell

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #156095 email]

Is [Slough Borough Council request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Slough Borough Council? If so, please contact us using
this form:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/cont...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be
published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your
web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.


-------------------------------------------------------------------

'Disclaimer: You should be aware that all e-mails received and sent by this Council are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and therefore may be disclosed to a third party. (The information contained in this message or any of its attachments may be privileged and confidential and intended for the exclusive use of the addressee). The views expressed may not be official policy but the personal views of the originator. If you are not the addressee any disclosure, reproduction, distribution, other dissemination or use of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you received this message in error please return it to the originator and confirm that you have deleted all copies of it.
All messages sent by this organisation are checked for viruses using the latest antivirus products. This does not guarantee a virus has not been transmitted. Please therefore ensure that you take your own precautions for the detection and eradication of viruses.'

hide quoted sections

_Freedom of Information, Slough Borough Council

2 Attachments

Mr Bell

 

Please find below the reply to your FOI request.

I apologise for the slight delay in this response.

 

Regards SBC FOI Officer

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Charles Bell [mailto:[FOI #156095 email]]

Sent: 05 April 2013 22:52

To: _Freedom of Information

Subject: Freedom of Information request - Certificates of Good Conduct

 

     Dear Slough Borough Council,

     This question relates to potential employees and volunteers who

     seek to engage in providing services to children and vulnerable

     adults.

    

     1. Please provide your policy and practice guidance on vetting and

     debarring including provisions concerning certificates of good

     conduct (CGC).

    

     Please see attached.

 

     2. CGCs.

    

     What is the legal basis for requesting them?

 

SBC do not have a policy of requesting these, however successful
applicants from overseas may voluntarily provide a police or other
relevant check in addition to the DBS (previously CRB) check carried out
by SBC

    

     Who applies and pays for them? In relation to some countries

     individuals can give others a power of attorney.

 

See response above

    

     A government-commissioned report suggests that for some countries

     CGC information may be unreliable. What steps do you take to verify

     it if the person to whom it relates challenges it?

    

     How do you ensure that CGCs obtained from overseas are consistent

     with the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and dont

     include, for example, convictions for matters that would not be a

     crime in the UK or would be considered spent under the

     Rehabilitation of Offenders Act?

 

The SBC ROA policy would be applied fairly to all applicants (section 3.5
applies)

    

     3. I refer to Article 8 of the Human Rights Act and the recent case

     of (R(T) v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester and Others [2013]

     EWCA) concerning the right to privacy. What steps have you taken or

     do you intend to take and to what effect to amend your policies

     concerning vetting and debarring and certificates of good conduct

     in light of this ruling?

 

We understand that the Government have stated that they are appealing
against the ruling to the supreme court and therefore SBC will assess the
final outcome before reviewing the relevant policies.

    

     4. Your Local Authority is known to employ a significant number of

     social workers who trained outside of the UK (34: information

     provided before its demise by the General Social Care Council) and

     came to you as foreign nationals; others may have taken up British

     citizenship since then. Where such persons take leave of

     absence(e.g. maternity leave, extended sick leave)for a period of

     time what steps are taken to ascertain whether they have left the

     UK perhaps to return to their home country and what steps are taken

     to require such persons to provide a police check/certificate of

     good conduct to cover the period for which they have left the UK?

 

SBC managers are encouraged to maintain regular contact with those off
sick and those on maternity leave and we do not request a CGC or another
DBS particularly for this reason of absence.

    

     5. How many prospective volunteers have been required to provide a

     certificate of good conduct for the last 12 month period for which

     information is available and in how many such cases did disclosures

     on the certificate contribute to them not taking up such a role?

N/A

    

     Yours faithfully,

    

     Charles Bell

    

     -------------------------------------------------------------------

    

     Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

     [FOI #156095 email]

    

     Is [Slough Borough Council request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information

     requests to Slough Borough Council? If so, please contact us using

     this form:

     https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/cont...

    

     Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be

     published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

     https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...

    

     If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your

     web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

    

    

     -------------------------------------------------------------------

 

'Disclaimer: You should be aware that all e-mails received and sent by
this Council are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and
therefore may be disclosed to a third party. (The information contained in
this message or any of its attachments may be privileged and confidential
and intended for the exclusive use of the addressee).  The views expressed
may not be official policy but the personal views of the originator.  If
you are not the addressee any disclosure, reproduction, distribution,
other dissemination or use of this communication is strictly prohibited. 
If you received this message in error please return it to the originator
and confirm that you have deleted all copies of it. 
All messages sent by this organisation are checked for viruses using the
latest antivirus products.  This does not guarantee a virus has not been
transmitted.   Please therefore ensure that you take your own precautions
for the detection and eradication of viruses.'

hide quoted sections