'Close loophole in child protection'

The Scottish Executive has been urged to close a loophole in its child protection legislation that leaves unchecked all nannies who are hired privately by families. The Scotland branch of the Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) wrote last week to Cathy Jamieson, minister for education and young people, calling on her to close the loophole, which it said was 'potentially damaging' to the Protection of Children (Scotland) Bill that is currently being debated in the Scottish Parliament. Under the proposed legislation, only nannies employed through an agency would be checked that they were suitable to work with children and had...