September 8 2008
Staff at a new agency created to strengthen the protection of
children and vulnerable adults moved into their new headquarters in
Darlington at the weekend.
Almost 60 workers, employed by the Independent Safeguarding
Authority (ISA), relocated from Mowden Hall to Stephenson House at
Morton Palms as the organisation prepares to launch next year.
The ISA was created as a direct result of recommendations of the
2004 Bichard Inquiry which followed the murders of Holly Wells and
Jessica Chapman in Soham in 2002. It will work to safeguard
children and vulnerable adults by bringing together, for the first
time, information from a variety of sources.
Highly trained caseworkers, backed by a board of members with
considerable expertise, will take independent decisions to prevent
unsuitable people gaining access to the vulnerable. Ultimately,
this new registration and barring process will replace, expand and
enhance the various vetting schemes currently in operation.
ISA Chief Executive Adrian McAllister said: “I’m very pleased to
welcome our staff to their new offices as moving in here is one of
the key milestones in our progress towards an official start
date.
“It’s been a time of upheaval as the organisation develops and I
thank staff for their patience and hard work to make the move
happen, whilst maintaining their commitment to existing
workloads.”
The ISA will eventually employ 250 staff at Stephenson
House.
More than 100 new employees will be taken on by the ISA over the
next few months, as preparations for a ‘go-live’ date of 12 October
2009 gather pace.
“It’s great to move in here, the offices are really light and
airy,” said casework supervisor Dawn Wayman, one of the staff who
made the move.
“The workspace is logically laid out and planned specifically
for the casework and administration process to run as efficiently
as possible. I’m very happy to be here.”
Notes to Editors
1. The ISA was established in January 2008 after being created
by the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. Using expert
caseworkers it will consider Vetting and Barring Scheme referrals.
The scheme is one of 31 recommendations made by Sir Michael Bichard
in his inquiry into the Soham Murders.
2. The overriding aim of the ISA will be to help avoid harm, or
risk of harm, to children and vulnerable adults. It will aim to do
this by preventing those who are deemed unsuitable to work with
children and/or vulnerable adults from gaining access to them
through their work.
It will do this by:
- working in partnership with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB),
which will gather information on a person who will or wishes to
work in regulated or controlled activity with vulnerable
groups;
- using this information to decide on a case-by-case basis if an
individual is poses a risk of harm to vulnerable groups; and
- securely storing information about people’s ISA status for
employers and voluntary organisations to use when they are
recruiting.
3. The scheme will be self-financing. Individual applicants
seeking to work with vulnerable groups engaging in regulated or
controlled activities will have to pay a fee of £64.
4. Volunteers will not have to pay a registration fee.
5. The ISA is a Non-Departmental Public Body sponsored by the
Home Office. It will be based in Darlington and it will consist of
a small Board of public appointees and around 250 ISA
employees.
6. Training of the case workers will include a corporate
induction, development and decision making, submission writing,
risk assessment, appropriate legislation and case work
familiarisation.
7. Among the tasks they will perform in the lead up to ‘go-live’
in October 2009 will be the combining of three existing lists of
individuals barred from working with children and vulnerable adults
into two.
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