Stephen McPartland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen McPartland on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to (a) regulate freelance tutors and (b) ensure that such tutors have an enhanced DBS check in order to safeguard children.

Edward Timpson

It is the responsibility of any school or parent to assure themselves that they are entirely satisfied as to the suitability of any freelance tutor they might choose to employ before they engage them. Private tutors have several options open to them to enable them to obtain appropriate checks in order to provide employers with the assurances they might need. For example, employment agencies are required to process DBS checks for all tutors working with children.

It is of course a serious criminal offence to seek to work with children in regulated activity after having been barred from doing so.