24 November 2009

Vetting and Barring

Following the introduction of the Government’s new Vetting and Barring Scheme, the General Dental Council (GDC) would like to clarify its current stance and obligations in relation to the change in the law.

The GDC is aware that from July 2010 any dental professionals who are changing jobs or starting work for the first time will need to register with the Independent Safeguard Authority. (ISA)

This authority was created to help prevent unsuitable people from working with children and vulnerable adults through the Vetting and Barring Scheme.

Within the meaning of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the delivery of dental care is a ‘regulated activity’; therefore all those delivering that care must be registered with the ISA in the long term.  Registrants already employed and not changing jobs will be included in the scheme over time, with everyone needing to be included by 2015.

There are two lists of barred people. One for individuals barred from working with children and one for those barred from working with vulnerable adults. An individual can be listed on either or both.

As of 12 October 2009, it became a criminal offence for people barred by the ISA to work or apply to work with children or vulnerable adults in a wide range of posts. It is also now a criminal offence for an employer to knowingly employ a barred person in a regulated activity.

The Council now has a legal obligation to share information about GDC registrants with the ISA. It is waiting to be advised as to exactly what information it will have to share, but it is likely to be anything which could indicate that a registrant poses a risk to children or vulnerable adults. The GDC may also receive information about its registrants from the ISA. It has already been decided by Council that such information should not result in automatic erasure from the Register, but should be considered as an allegation of impaired fitness to practise through the usual channels.

The GDC is looking carefully at how the Vetting and Barring Scheme will affect registrants and what role the Council will play. It is liaising with other regulators and working out how best to share relevant information alongside existing guidance on protecting patients.

Ends

For media enquiries, please contact Moira Alderson on 020 7009 2782 or malderson@gdc-uk.org

Notes to editors:

The scheme for England, Wales and Northern Ireland was a recommendation of the inquiry into the murders of two schoolgirls by school caretaker Ian Huntley in Soham, in Cambridgeshire, in 2002 - a separate but aligned scheme will be introduced in Scotland next year.

For further information about the Vetting and Barring Scheme and the Independent Safeguarding Authority, please visit www.isa-gov.org.uk or call 0300 123 1111.