The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Barring Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make provision for parts of the procedure to be followed by the Independent Barring Board (“IBB”) established under section 1 of, and Schedule 1 to, the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.

Regulation 3 stipulates the manner in which individuals should be invited to make representations as to whether they should be included in one of the barred lists maintained under Article 6 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Northern Ireland) Order 2007 (“the Order”) and the time that they should be given to do so. This regulation will apply to all representations which individuals are permitted to make to IBB, including any made under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Transitional Provisions) Order (Northern Ireland) 2008 (“the TPO”).

Regulations 4 to 10 set the minimum period that a person will remain barred before they are permitted to apply for permission to apply for a review of their inclusion in one of the barred lists.

Regulations 4 to 9 set the minimum barred period in relation to any person whom IBB is required to include in one of the barred lists pursuant to Articles 3 or 5 of the TPO. These are people who, when they are included in one of the barred lists, are already prohibited from particular types of work because they are included in the list kept under Article 3 or 35 of the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (Northern Ireland) Order 2003, or are subject to a disqualification order, or are included in the list kept for the purposes of the Education (Prohibition from Teaching or Working with Children) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007 (“the 2007 Regulations”). The repeal of the provisions providing for these “previous restrictions” (see regulation 2) will not affect a person’s minimum barred period or their inclusion in one or both lists.

Regulation 10 sets the minimum barred period in relation to all other cases.

Regulation 11 determines the point at which the minimum barred period set by regulations 4 to 10 starts.

Regulation 12 must be read against paragraph 18 of Schedule 1 to the Order. Paragraph 18(3) of that Schedule states that a person may only make an application to IBB for permission to apply for a review of his inclusion in a barred list if (i) the minimum barred period relating to him has expired and (ii) he has not, during a prescribed period, made an application for permission. Regulation 12 prescribes that period.

In general, if a person is under 18, the period within which they must not have made an application is one year. If they have reached the age of 18 but are less than 25 years old, it is five years. And if they are aged 25 years or older, it is 10 years. However, paragraphs (3) and (5) of this regulation address the possibility that a person might pass from one age category to the next without having exercised their right to apply for permission to seek a review. The effect of paragraph (3) is that, where a person had the right to make an application before they reached the age of 18 but failed to apply before they reached that age, his eligibility to make an application continues. However, this will depend on him not having made an application within the previous year, rather than the previous 5 years (or 10 years, if he has still failed to make an application by the time that he reaches the age of 25). Paragraph (5) has a similar effect in relation to a person who had started with the right to make an application if he had not done so in the previous 5 years. If he has not exercised this right he does not lose it by virtue of reaching the age of 25. So the requirement not to have made an application within the previous 10 years does not affect him until he has made an application.