£600,000 'Sarah's law' scheme results in only 21 disclosures
The Home Office has promised to extend 'Sarah's law' across the country, even though a £600,000 two-year pilot scheme in four police force areas produced only 21 disclosures.
The Home Office has promised to extend 'Sarah's law' across the country, even though a £600,000 two-year pilot scheme in four police force areas produced only 21 disclosures.
The move comes at a time of massive budget cuts at the Ministry of Justice and Home Office, and the closure of courts and prisons.
Under 'Sarah's law', introduced following a tabloid campaign in the wake of the murder of Sarah Payne, anyone can demand to know whether an individual with unsupervised access to a child has a conviction for child sex abuse.
A report on the pilot in Cambridgeshire, Cleveland, Hampshire and Warwickshire revealed that there had been 585 enquiries resulting in 315 formal applications for disclosure and 21 disclosures.
Researchers found that most of the applications related to concerns about 'an ex-partner's new partner', neighbours, family members and friends of the family.
The cost of processing a successful disclosure, excluding the set-up costs of the pilot scheme, was anything from £672 to £1,499. Including set-up costs, each disclosure cost up to £28,500.
Researchers attempted to contact sex offenders who had been named in the disclosures but it proved impossible to interview them.
Analysis of 159 applications showed that 43 had resulted in 'other safeguarding outcomes' such as reference to a social worker.
A Home Office spokesman said that, starting this month, 'Sarah's law' would be extended to a further 20 police forces. Remaining police forces will be invited to join the scheme in March 2011.
Home secretary Theresa May said: 'The roll-out of this scheme is an important step forward for child protection in this country. Being able to make these checks reassures parents and the community and more importantly keeps children safer.
'Not only will it help parents, carers or guardians ensure that their children are safe, but it also assists the police in managing known sex offenders living in the community more effectively.'
The NSPCC has said it remains concerned about the risk of vigilante action and sex offenders going underground.