15 March 2005

Soham inquiry says "great deal" still needs to be done

The head of the inquiry set up following the murders of two young schoolgirls in Soham has said that "a great deal" still needs to be done to implement his most important recommendations.

Sir Michael Bichard said that "good progress" had been made, but called upon the government to ensure that a national intelligence system and a registration – or barring- scheme for those working with children is delivered by 2007.

The independent Bichard inquiry was originally set up following the conviction of school caretaker Ian Huntley for the murders of Soham schoolgirls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both aged 10. Sir Michael presented his conclusions, which included reports on child protection procedures, intelligence-based record keeping and information sharing between police forces and other agencies, last June. He announced the start of his review of the original recommendations last November.

Sir Michael said: "Although there is a commitment to a police national IT intelligence system, its successful delivery is by no means guaranteed without a detailed business case and the delay in providing this is a concern to me. Equally although there is commitment to a new scheme for barring those who should not work with children, which meets all the requirements of my proposed registration scheme, that project still needs to be delivered by 2007. The resources for this have not yet been allocated; the legislation will need to be taken through Parliament and the scheme will need to ensure that it is easily accessed by those employing workers including parents recruiting, for example, an out of school tutor."

Sir Michael also expressed concerns regarding recruitment and vetting control for foreign workers employed in the UK and urged the government to work towards achieving "an exchange of intelligence" with those countries providing the largest numbers of workers to the relevant sectors.

The input of data, particularly regarding arrests and summons, into the Police National Computer (PNC) was also criticised. Sir Michael said that it had "not improved significantly or, in some respects, at all". He said: " That has been a long standing problem and it is disappointing that after all this time, more has not been achieved."

However, Sir Michael praised progress in a number of areas, including: on-line training for teachers involved in interviews and selection for posts in schools and the reduction of registered bodies allowed to conduct checks for schools in order to protect quality.

Sir Michael concluded: "We are on the verge of having in the United Kingdom a coherent set of protective measures unrivalled anywhere, but if the national intelligence system and the barring - or registration - scheme are not in place by 2007, we shall have fallen short."

Commenting on the recommedations, Conservative Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "It is of the utmost importance that these recommendations are implemented as soon as possible and it is disappointing to see that yet again the Government has failed on its promises.

(KMcA/SP)