The Manifesto Club, which has been campaigning against the vetting database since 2006, says that Ed Balls' review of the vetting database is 'too little, too late'.

The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act was passed in autumn 2006, and the database was originally supposed to be fully functioning by autumn 2008 (an event now scheduled for autumn 2010). Virtually every announcement or publication associated with the Vetting and Barring Scheme has been delayed in some way.

Josie Appleton, convenor of the Manifesto Club, says:

'This law has been tweaked and fiddled with enough already. The government is trying to save something that is fundamentally unworkable. The trouble with the definitions of "frequently" and "intensively" is that they are entirely random bureaucratic categories - at odds with the way that local and community life works'.

The Manifesto Club's Campaign Against Vetting obtained a leaked copy of the government's 150-page guidance for the vetting database (which was originally due to be published this summer). We reported this latest government thinking in our Briefing Document: 'Regulating Trust: Who Will be on the Vetting Database?'

James Panton, head of campaigns at the Manifesto Club, says:

'It doesn't matter if "frequently" is defined as once a month or once every six weeks. As our briefing document "Regulating Trust" revealed, the ISA has already gone through tortuous review procedures about the definitions involved. Asking for another review it again will do no good at all'.

The club calls for the whole policy of the vetting database to be reviewed:

'We don't need to review definitions but to reconsider the policy as a whole. That is inconvenient, given how far the vetting database has gone - but anything else would have highly damaging effects on clubs and volunteering across the country.'

Notes to editors:

1. The Manifesto Club has been campaigning against the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act since October 2006, when the club launched a petition signed by individuals including Fay Weldon, Johnny Ball and Alan Silitoe, and hundreds of volunteers, parents and concerned adults. See here.

Reports: We have published a series of reports, documenting the expansion of vetting and its damaging effect on social life, including:

· The Case Against Vetting (October 2006) provides an overview of the dramatic expansion of vetting, and shows how this feeds a child protection bureaucracy, while undermining everyday relationships between adults and children.
· How the Child Protection Industry Stole Christmas (December 2006) shows how overregulation is affecting seasonal celebrations
· Hobby Clubs (April 2007) documents how some mixed-age clubs are banning children.
· Briefing Document (April 2008) shows how the government's new vetting laws will be late, over-budget and over-stretched.

All reports available here.

2. Our Briefing Document, Regulating Trust, revealed unpublished government guidance on the workings of the vetting database.

3. For more information, contact James Panton on info@manifestoclub.com and 0779 2795462; or Josie Appleton on josie.appleton@manifestoclub.com and 0779 1032740.

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