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The new rules lead on from increased child protection procedures which followed the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, in Soham. In a major blow for the Government, Britain’s largest children’s charity, the NSPCC, criticised the regulations for parent helpers which it said threatened “perfectly safe and normal activities” and risked alienating the public. Barry Sheerman, Labour chairman of the Commons’ children and families select committee condemned the way the policy was being implemented and demanded that Children’s Secretary Ed Balls “get a grip on this”. Next month parents in England and Wales who take part in any formal agreement to look after children – even if it is as little as once a month – will be told they have to register with the new Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) – at a cost of £64. From next summer, parents who have failed to register with the ISA could face prosecution. Critics claim parents will be wrongly labelled as criminals. Others fear that those who currently give up their time to help out in schools and clubs could give up rather than go through the hassle of registering. Wes Cuell, director of services for children and young people for the NSPCC, said: “The warning signs are now out there that this scheme will stop people doing things that are perfectly safe and normal, things that they shouldn’t be prevented from doing. “When you get this degree of public outcry there is generally a good reason for it. I think we are getting a bit too close to crossing the line about what is acceptable in the court of public opinion. We don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.” Prof. Alan Craft, former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said the state had already gone too far in creating a culture which restricted freedom for young families. He said: “We have created a climate where adults feel they can’t put an arm around a child who is upset, and there is a real danger that this move takes us yet further down that road.” Last week, Sir Michael Bichard, the scheme’s architect, suggested that ministers should revise the guidelines.Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: “This scheme is wildly over the top. How are we supposed to create a country fit for our children if we regard every adult looking after children as a potential threat?” The Conservatives have already pledged they will curb the ISA’s powers if they win the next election. Teaching professionals expressed their dismay yesterday at the new regulations. David Lyscom, chief executive of the Independent Schools Council, said: “It is a knee-jerk reaction to the issue of child protection which will be full of unintended consequences. This is another example of the Government using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
“Parents’ groups and children’s authors also joined in. Margaret Morrissey, the founder of family lobby group Parents Outloud, said: “The issue is the need to protect children from people who work in schools who have constant access to them. What we have now is so far removed from the issue it is ridiculous.
Chris Keates, the general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said schools might be “quite suspicious” if volunteers dropped out because of the new vetting procedures.”I just think people would express suspicion if parents had been working with children for quite a while, then said ‘well I’m not going to do it because I’m going to be checked’ because people who do volunteer understand the need for safeguarding.”