Teacher vetting reviewed after sex offender case

LONDON (Reuters) - The government said it would look at the procedures for appointing teachers on Monday after Education Secretary Ruth Kelly was criticised for allowing a registered sex offender to be given a job as a PE teacher.

The man, who was placed on the register after receiving a police caution for downloading banned images of children on the Internet, was given the job at Hewett School in Norwich after Kelly ruled that he did not pose a risk.

He was later suspended on the advice of the police and resigned from the post.

Kelly's decision has been lambasted by the Conservatives who called it "extraordinary" while a parents' group said it showed lessons of the Soham schoolgirl murders had not been learnt.

Ian Huntley killed 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman after getting a job as a college caretaker on the same grounds as the girls' primary school in Cambridgeshire. Police checks had failed to reveal he was a suspected sex offender.

"Following the events in Soham, parents were offered reassurance that procedures would be put in place to prevent their children being put at risk in the future," said David Butler of the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations.

PARENTS "QUESTIONING GUARANTEES"

"Parents will be questioning these guarantees as it would appear that even individuals on the sex offenders' register are not automatically excluded from being recruited as teachers."

The Department for Education (DfES) said action to improve the vetting system was already being considered in light of the independent inquiry into the Soham murders.

"Let's be clear. This person isn't working as a teacher: the system broadly did ensure that didn't happen," Schools Minister Jacqui Smith told BBC radio.

"But I certainly think that it throws up some very important issues, which is why we are already in the process (of) designing new legislation to reform and tighten the system."

In a statement, Hewett school said the man, who was never convicted of an offence, had been honest about his past.

But they had decided to give him the job because Kelly had ruled he should not be placed on "list 99", a national register of people barred from working with children.

Lisa Christensen, Director of Children's Services at Norfolk County Council, said it showed confusion in the procedure.

"This case highlights a serious policy contradiction that we are keen that the DfES addresses as a matter of urgency -- namely that is possible for a teacher to have their name on the sex offender register, but not on list 99," she said.

Smith said that issue would be reviewed but Conservative education spokesman David Willetts called Kelly's decision a "serious lapse of judgement".

"It is extraordinary that Ruth Kelly should have approved a registered sex offender becoming a PE teacher," he said.

By Michael Holden