[ExeterLUG] Schools/STEMnet/DBS checks

[Mark Evans]

On 14/03/14 12:27, Gordon Henderson wrote:

> Just FYI, and for others on the list:
> 
> As a STEMnet ambassador with a STEMnet issued DBS check, I would have to
> apply for another DBS check to do any voluntary work in any Devon County
> Council School.
> 
> This applies to all STEMnet ambassadors with STEMnet issued DBS check
> certificates for all Devon county council schools.
> 
> I have had this confirmed by Phil Barrett, Team Leader Safer Recruitment
> Service from Devon CC. (Who had never heard of STEMnet nor code club )-:

Maybe you should send him the bill.
> 
> I have asked STEMnet to look into this too.
> 
> But DCCs stance is that the update service (which all STEMnet
> ambassadors were encouraged to subscribe to) is nine months out of date
> and therefore not acceptable for use in DCC. (I have asked the update
> service for clarification on this)

http://www.clerktogovernors.co.uk/dbs-checks-the-new-name-for-crb-checks/

Has some interesting things to say on this matter.

A question I have never received an adequate answer to is how
Police/CRB/DBS checks can be applied to anyone from outside the UK.

In the case of ISCA, St Lukes, St Peters, West Exe and Wynstream that a
side effect of the PFI set up is to allow all sorts of people
unconnected with either the school (or DCC) unsupervised access would
seem to be far more of a concern than national educational initutives.

> If West Exe is an academy school then they may have their own
> guidelines, or they may simply defer back to DCCs rules. I'd need to
> know before going on-site.

It isn't even that simple. A school's status with an LEA can depend very
much on its history.
There's also the possible issue of "guidelines" being treated as
"rules". Notwithstanding the maxim "Rules are for the guidance of the
wise and the blind obedience of fools."
> 
> I've just been through all this with another school I had volunteered to
> help run code club with. Phil Barrett is adamant that I must re-submit
> the data for another DBS check, however it means that that school will
> have to pay for another DBS check for me.

Or he's simply misinterpreting the "rules". Something which commonly
happens with so called "jobsworths". (Even to the extent that such
misinterpretations can be mutually exclusive with the actual
rule/guideline in question.)

> I have decided to refuse to go through the process again purely on the
> grounds of unnecessary bureaucracy. (I've held an enhanced CRB/DBS check
> certificates for the past 9 years so am hardly likely to fail - this is
> purely a stance against the bureaucracy)

There have been cases of people making multiple applications and getting
different results back. Such systems will always generate "false
positives". (Especially if there is a lack of an effective feedback
mechanism to deal with these when the occur.)

So far as "bureaucracy" goes the whole CRB/DBS probably isn't "fit for
purpose" in the first place. Since the Bichard Inquiry seems to have
been more concerned with Huntley's job in a school, which wasn't
relevent in encountering his victims. Whilst ignoring Carr's behaviour,
which directly lead to the victims going to Huntley's and Carr's home.

(It's certainly not the only case of a system being put into place after
something bad happening probably wouldn't have done much to prevent the
whatever it was. Nor would be effective at preventing something similar
happening in the future. The reason such systems can appear to "work" is
that the nasty people they supposedly "target" are both incredibly rare
and resourceful enough to commit some different, but equally, horrid crime.)

Bruce Schneier coined the term "security theatre" to describe such
things. About the only thing they can possibly do is make the ignorant
feel better.

IMHO the issue of staff who are "over-friendly" with their students has
not really been addressed. Probably because it is difficult to know
where to "draw a line" here. Even in cases where the staff and students
do not have any interactions and connections outside the school.
(Possibly teachers, especially women, raping teenagers is considered
acceptable by the PtB. So they will only consider acting next time there
is a murder. Most likely with a "more of the same" response. Rather than
considering the actual effectivness of the CRB/DBS idea.)



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