Petition launched against the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill

PRESS RELEASE: 23 October 2006

There is growing public concern about the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill, which will return for its third reading in parliament on Monday 23 October.

An online petition, coordinated by the Manifesto Club, has drawn support from parents, teachers, sports coaches, volunteers, youth workers, child safety experts, and academics.
The petition is here: http://www.petitiononline.com/MCVet/petition.html

The bill will make it a crime for a father to coach his son's football team without first going through a criminal records check.

It is likely that the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups bill will pass on Monday, with cross-party backing. Yet there has been very little public scrutiny of these drastic new measures.

A new Manifesto Club report, ‘The Case Against Vetting’, argues that this law will hamper the good work of millions of decent adults - and do nothing to protect children.

A letter to The Times, with signatories including Johnny Ball, Fay Weldon, the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, argued that the bill will ‘damage adult-child relations and undermine the capacity of adults to contribute to children’s welfare’.

Petitioner Comments:
'It's way past time to sweep this pathetic statist culture aside and return to human relationships.' James Binney, university professor and parent of two young children
'I myself have hesitated to participate in school activities. This is a ridiculous situation.' Paul E Sandin, roboticist
'I found the CRB procedure thoroughly insulting and I contemplated resigning as a Reader rather than submit to it.' Prof. Tom Addiscott, Reader in Church of England
'To live in society involves a certain amount of risk. It is not possible to reduce this to zero without damaging informal relationships, which are the stuff of society. Bureaucracy tends to try to organise everything, which has a stultifying effect on life.' Malcolm Kirke, parent
'The generation chasm is damaging society.' Gerald Moonen, retired

Notes to Editors:
The petition, with public comments, can be accessed at http://www.petitiononline.com/MCVet/petition.html
The Manifesto Club report, The Case Against Vetting: how the child protection industry os poisoning adult-child relations, is available here: http://www.manifestoclub.com/hubs/vetting
For information, a full list of signatories and quotes, or to arrange an interview with report authors, contributors or supporters, contact James Panton, Manifesto Club Press officer on +44 (0) 7811 955 739 or press@manifestoclub.com.