'Close loophole in child protection'

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 not been disqualified from doing so.

A Scottish Executive spokes- man confirmed that the only way parents would be able to check if a nanny was on the list of persons deemed unsuitable to work with children was to go through a nanny agency.

Information from the list could only be disclosed through a 'higher level check' through Disclosure Scotland, part of the Scottish Criminal Record Office, if the Disclosure application was countersigned by a registered body such as a nanny agency. Parents cannot be a registered body, he added.

PAT said that while it welcomed the Executive's child protection measures, it 'deeply regretted' the Bill's omission of nannies. Michael White, PAT (Scotland) regional officer, said, 'Nannies are childcare professionals, but they lack the recognition of others working in the sector. If they were regulated and registered in the same way as, say, childminders, their status would be enhanced.'

Tricia Pritchard, professional officer for the Professional Association of Nursery Nurses, a division of PAT, pointed out that only about three in ten nannies are hired through agencies. She said, 'By regulating agencies, and not individuals, the Executive is in danger of failing to protect a great number of children whose parents don't go through agencies.'