Doubt
over sex offenders in NHS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4648196.stm
bbc
- 25th January 2006
The
government has admitted in the House of Lords that it cannot say
how many registered sex offenders may be working with children in
the NHS.
The admission
comes after last week's row over revelations some registered child
sex offenders had been allowed to work in schools.
Peers had
pressed the government to ask if there could be similar problems
hidden in the health service.
Health
Minister Lord Warner said NHS trusts decided who was checked.
He told
peers checks on all new NHS staff with access to patients were compulsory
against the criminal record bureau, and there were extra checks
for those working closely with children.
These
checks would include all child specialist and paediatric services,
but the exact posts covered by the extra checks would be decided
by the local employers.
Tory Lady
Seccombe, who had raised the issue, said this all still sounded
very "confusing and concerning".
She pressed
the minister to say how many people cautioned for, or convicted
of, a serious sexual offence were working in the NHS and what was
he doing about it?
Lord Warner
said he didn't have the exact figures.
This was
"a complex area" and the government "knew there were
problems".
He said
the government had "done its utmost to ensure that all these
people do not have access to children".
New
law
And he
insisted that the new law promised by Education Secretary Ruth Kelly
last week would "close a number loopholes".
Pressed
again by the Tories to say how many registered sex offenders were
working with children in the NHS, Lord Warner said there were some
600 different employers in the NHS and he had "given the answer
which he thought was appropriate".
Shadow
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said there were serious questions
the government had to answer.
"It
is clear that it does not know how many individuals employed in
the NHS and social care sectors have committed a sexual offence
against children.
"This
makes it imperative that the list which individual NHS and social
care organisations make checks against is as comprehensive as possible.
"The
current health and social care equivalent to education's List 99,
the Protection of Children Act list, is not comprehensive."
